The Most Powerful Force
by Kristin4
Summary: Stephanie and Triple H have been divorced for about a year. But they still have strong feelings for one another. So when Stephanie gets the crap beat out of her on her fathers orders what can HHH do about it? He decides to step up and help her out. I know
1. The beginning of the story

A/n: This is going to be a HHH/Steph fic. I am going to start it at Smackdown where Steph was brutally beaten by A-train. From there the real stuff stops and it will purely be my imagination. Please let me know what you think. This is really just an informative chapter all the exciting stuff wont happen till later but I promise you it will get better. Please r/r.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Stephanie walked through the halls of the arena where smackdown was being taped. Her sternum was still sore but she was going to prove that she was tough and deal with it. Sighing she tried to think of a way to help make her mom feel better about what her dad was doing.  
  
Stephanie had spent the last few days thinking about the situation to it's fullest and was still getting absolutely nowhere. As she walked towards her office she felt a pair of eyes watching her. Turning she saw the A Train walking towards her.  
  
" What do you want?" Stephanie asked him with narrowed eyes.  
  
" I just wanted to let you know something." He said with a smirk.  
  
" Well then say what you have to say and move on." Stephanie said looking around.  
  
" What I did to you at Vengeance I would have done for free. Getting paid by Vince was just a bonus." He said with a smirk.  
  
Stephanie pushed away from him and hurried down the hall. Gulping she realized that this situation had just gotten out of hand and she had no one here to back her up. If she was being targeted than she was going to be taken out and there was nothing she could do about it.  
  
Later that night Stephanie stood in the ring looking like a deer caught in headlights. Gulping she watched the A Train walk down to the ring.  
  
Paul decided it was time to watch the end of smackdown. He hadn't been watching it lately for the simple fact he wasn't sure if he was over Stephanie. Though their relationship had started out as a stunt and plot deep down he had fallen for her. Sighing he turned on Smackdown just as Ric walked into his hotel room.  
  
" Let's go man." He told him with a grin.  
  
" I just want to see the last bit of smackdown. It looks like Steph is wrestling." Paul said with a grin. He knew Stephanie hated to wrestle and then his eyes widened as he saw who she was wrestling. " Who the hell made this match?" He shouted.  
  
" Whoa looks like Vince is ringside with Sable. Problems for Stephanie." Ric laughed and then noticed that Paul didn't find it to funny. " Look your Triple H for godsakes and you could have any woman you wanted! Why are you pining after this one?"  
  
" Be quiet the match is about to start." Paul said as he leaned towards the TV.  
  
Stephanie felt the pain shoot through her entire body as she was tossed around the ring. Her mind was a jumble but she knew she was being humiliated. She couldn't move but she heard the music that signaled that the Undertaker was coming down to help her. She smiled slightly but then she heard the boos and so fourth and knew that something else had happened. She heard the creak as someone got in the ring and she felt herself dragged towards the ropes.  
  
Paul watched as The A Train dragged Stephanie to the corner and then threw himself on her Sternum. He saw that she couldn't breath and the look on Vince's and Sables faces just made him angrier. Something had to be done about this. He watched them get in the ring and announce the winner and his mind was spinning out of control. He watched as they humiliated Stephanie some more as she lay there gasping for breath. Right then and there he made his decision. He was going to make Vince pay and pay dearly. 


	2. The new show

Chapter 2  
  
Stephanie was lying in the hospital bed watching TV. She was hyped up on pain medication so she couldn't feel the pain of her injuries. She heard a knock at her door and sighed.  
  
" Come in." She said as loud as she could without causing herself discomfort.  
  
" Hey long time no talk." Paul said as he walked into the room.  
  
" No camera's?" Stephanie asked glancing behind him.  
  
" Nope. I am here as Paul and not Hunter." He informed her with a smile.  
  
" Well that's good because I don't think I am ready to be on TV right now." She said with a small smile.  
  
" I saw what happened." Paul said with a whisper. Walking over he sat next to her gently on the bed.  
  
" Which time? Vengence or Smackdown?" She asked him seriously.  
  
" This happened before?" He asked her with wide eyes.  
  
" Yes." Stephanie said with a whisper. " It wasn't scripted either. Paul it wasn't supposed to go down like that."  
  
" I didn't think it was." Paul said as he stroked her cheek gently.  
  
" I miss you." Stephanie said with a weak voice. " Not just professionally but personally to. I miss having your things laying around my house." She said with a small laugh.  
  
" Well maybe I could help you out. Your still the GM of smackdown right?" He asked her seriously.  
  
" Yes." She said confused.  
  
" Triple H has a contract renewal coming up. He wants to come to smackdown." Paul said with a grin. " I think it's time we became the most powerful force."  
  
" I agree." Stephanie said with a grin.  
  
Two weeks later.  
  
Stephanie was still not a 100 percent but it was the night Triple H was going to appear on Smackdown for the first time. The deal was closed and nobody was happy about the change but Stephanie sure was. They had talked to the writer and it was all set. The most dominant couple was about to come back.  
  
Stephanie sat at her desk in her office sipping some water when she heard a knock at her door.  
  
" Come in." She shouted, trying hard not to wince.  
  
" Well look who's back." Sable said as she walked in.  
  
" What the hell do you want?" Stephanie asked her with narrowed eyes.  
  
" I just thought I would tell you that your father wants you in a match tonight. It's going to be you and a partner of your choosing against me and the A Train." Sable said with a laugh.  
  
" Fine with me." Stephanie said with a shrug. She already knew who her partner was going to be and she knew that Paul wouldn't let her in the ring tonight.  
  
" Fine. See you out there." Sable said with a laugh as she left the office.  
  
" Well now I know the perfect way to introduce him back into the smackdown community." Stephanie muttered to herself with a smile.  
  
Paul was nervous about how he was going to be welcomed. He had been on RAW for a long time now and it was not easy going to a new show. He felt like a rookie wrestler all over again. Shaking everything off he entered Stephanie's office.  
  
" Hey." He said with a smile.  
  
" Well guess what." Stephanie said not returning the smile.  
  
" What?" Paul asked her.  
  
" You have a match tonight. My dad decided it should be me and a partner of my choosing against Sable and The A Train." Stephanie informed him with a grim look.  
  
" Well then Triple H is going to whoop some ass." Paul said with a laugh. " Cheer up Steph. I always have your back and you know it."  
  
" I know. Anyway did you get the revised script?" Stephanie asked him walking back towards her desk.  
  
" Nope." Paul said as he walked over and sat at a chair in front of it.  
  
" Here." Stephanie said as she handed a script to him. " All you need to know are the highlighted parts."  
  
" All right then." Paul said with a smile. He read over the script and his smile got even bigger. He was going to enjoy tonight and that was for sure.  
  
~~~ Next chapter is the tag match. But what was in the script that made Paul smile so much? Please keep the reviews coming.. I didn't want to go into the match in this chapter because I didn't want it to get to long.. The faster I get reviews the faster you get a new chapter.!~~~~ 


	3. The surprise

Chapter 3  
  
Stephanie was looking in the mirror as she fixed the front of her outfit. In about two minutes she was going to head to the ring solo. Nobody had seen Triple H and so they had no clue it was him she was wrestling with. She had been talking to wrestlers all night so it was clear that there were some prospects. Grinning she opened her bathroom door and stepped out. Hunter was sitting on the couch waiting for her.  
  
" Are you going to put the cover up thing on so no one knows its you?" Stephanie asked pointing to the piece of cloth on the couch next to him.  
  
" Yeah." He said as he picked it up. After he had put it on he turned towards her. " Are you ready to go my dear?" He asked her with an evil smirk.  
  
" Of course." Stephanie said with a laugh as she grabbed his hand and they walked out of her office and towards the front of the arena. As they got closer she got more and more nervous.  
  
" Steph you need to relax all right?" Hunter said with a grin.  
  
" I will as soon as this whole thing is over and you can be Paul again. Once we are normal people we don't have to worry about certain things." Stephanie whispered to him.  
  
They arrived at the curtain that blocked the top of the ramp. Stephanie smiled as she looked out into the ring and saw Sable and the A Train standing there with her dad.  
  
" My dad's out there." She told Hunter with a grim look. " He might try to interfere."  
  
" Don't worry its all taken care of." He told her with a smile. " Now get out there so you can introduce me."  
  
" All right." Stephanie said as she nodded to the sound guy who hit her music.  
  
" The challenger Stephanie McMahon." Came the announcer's voice.  
  
Stephanie walked out and stood at the top of the ramp. With a nod she held onto the microphone in her hand.  
  
" I would like to introduce my partner for tonight. Ladies and Gentlemen Triple H." Stephanie said with a laugh into the mic as he stepped out and whipped the cover up cloth off.  
  
Sable and the A Train looked at them with their jaws dropped while Vince's eyes went wide.  
  
Linda walked out and stood next to Stephanie.  
  
" Ladies and Gentlemen since I own 50 percent of this company I have decided to change the match." Linda said with a smirk towards Vince who was about to faint.  
  
" You can't do that!" Vince shouted into the microphone he held in his hand.  
  
" I just did. The match will be Sable, The A Train and Vince McMahon Vs. Evolution." Linda said with a smirk.  
  
" How is that possible when only Triple H is here. Everyone else is on RAW." Vince said with a smirk.  
  
" I signed the other's to Smackdown this morning." Linda informed him.  
  
The rest of evolution came out and Stephanie looked at Hunter shocked. This meant of course that she didn't have to wrestle but she was going to stay ringside.  
  
" There was no way I could let you wrestle with your injuries." Hunter told her with a whisper as they followed everyone down to the ring.  
  
" I." Stephanie started but caught herself.  
  
" You what?" Hunter asked her confused.  
  
" Nothing. Good luck." Stephanie whispered.  
  
Triple H entered the ring and the match began. He took all his frustrations out on The A Train and then Vince was tagged in. With an evil smirk Triple H beat the crap out of him and then did his finishing move. The pedigree. When the match was done Stephanie entered the ring like the script called her to. Smiling she grabbed the microphone and announced the winners.  
  
" The winners of this match are Evolution." Stephanie shouted with a smile.  
  
The crowd cheered as Hunter grabbed Stephanie around her waist and pulled her close.  
  
" What are you doing?" Stephanie asked confused.  
  
" What was in my revised script." Hunter replied with a smirk.  
  
" This wasn't in the script." She hissed looking at the crowd who was cheering wildly.  
  
" It's in mine." He said as he pulled her close and kissed her on the lips.  
  
Stephanie could have sworn she heard fireworks. Something in her seemed to burst and she knew they were in for a long hard ride. The only problem was could they last this time or would they be torn apart again. Only time would tell where they were heading and Stephanie had a feeling she wasn't going to like some of the places she was heading.  
  
Triple H pulled apart and smirked at Stephanie.  
  
" You don't know how long I have been waiting to do that again." He whispered to her.  
  
" Well you got your wish." She whispered back.  
  
They walked out of the ring together and Stephanie could feel the eyes of her father glaring at her. She stopped halfway up the ramp and turned around only to come face to face with the A Train and Brock Lesener. She gasped as she felt herself being lifted off the ground by the A Train and dragged back towards the ring. Hunter was busy fighting Brock and shouting for Evolution to come back out and help.  
  
Stephanie gulped as she stood in the ring and waited. She had a feeling something was going to happen to her again and this time it would be serious. 


	4. New injuries

Chapter 4  
  
Stephanie stood in the ring, sending desperate glances up towards Hunter who was busy with Brock. Gulping she looked back towards the A Train who was standing in front of her.  
  
" What do you want?" She asked a little shakily.  
  
" Well I thought that would be obvious." A Train said with an evil smirk towards her. He started looking her up and down and for the first time Stephanie felt a little self-conscious in her outfit.  
  
" Stop looking at me like I am a piece of meat." Stephanie said firmly.  
  
" Why Stephanie I have no idea what you are talking about." A Train said as he reached out and grabbed her arm.  
  
" Let me go." Stephanie said as she struggled to free her arm.  
  
" Not gonna happen my sweet." A Train said as Vince entered the ring with Sable.  
  
" Can I help?" Sable asked Vince.  
  
" Of course." Vince said with his evil grin. " Now Stephanie you and your brother have been a real nuisance to be around. You are a real disappointment."  
  
" Shut up you asshole." Stephanie said as she glared daggers into her father.  
  
" Don't talk to your father like that." A Train said as he yanked her arm, making Stephanie cry out in pain.  
  
Hunter glanced towards the ring and saw the look of pain on Stephanie's face. He struggled to get away from Brock but there was no way. He kept waiting for the rest of evolution but for some reason they weren't coming back out.  
  
Stephanie struggled some more against the pain that was shooting through her arm. She began to feel a little faint and then she saw it. Sable had a steel chair in her hands. Stephanie struggled a little faster to get away from A Train but it was no use. She felt the pain shoot through her head as the chair collided with her forehead.  
  
Hunter saw Stephanie get hit with a chair and was enraged. When he saw her body attempt to fall only to be held up by the A Train so Vince could take a shot he got even madder. He fought as hard as he could against Brock but he could already tell he was getting nowhere.  
  
Stephanie saw her father enter the ring and had a feeling that this was going to be something she was never going to forget. She raised an eyebrow, then winced, when Vince refused the chair Sable was trying to hand over to him. Grinning he pulled something out from behind his back and Stephanie's eyes went wide.  
  
Vince glared at his daughter through eyes that held so much hatred in them.  
  
" I loved you Steph, because you were Daddy's little girl. But now your nothing but a trashy whore and I hope you rot in hell." Vince said as he slammed what he was holding into her ribs.  
  
Stephanie sucked in a breath as she tried to regain her composure. She was not going to let her father win but she also wasn't sure how much longer she could withstand against the brutal beatings.  
  
Vince once again raised the instrument in his hands and this time he slammed it into Stephanie's chest causing her to gasp and struggle for air. With a nod he looked at Sable who was busy removing the pads that covered the cement floor around the ring. When a piece of cement was uncovered she nodded to Vince who then nodded to the A Train.  
  
A Train dragged a helpless and injured Stephanie outside the ring and picked her up. Walking over to the exposed Cement he muttered to her, " You know this has got to be the best part of my job Steph." Then with an evil smirk he did a pile driver into the cement. The severity of what her injuries could be would shock the entire arena, causing a gasp to echo through it. This was not part of the script. Something had just gone horribly wrong and someone was going to pay for it.  
  
Brock realized that something had happened out of script and stopped fighting Hunter. They both ran towards the ring and saw Stephanie lying on top of the exposed cement limp. Eyes wide they ran to her side and motioned for paramedics. Something had just gone horribly wrong. 


	5. Return to the show

Chapter 5  
  
Hunter was angry, no wait he wasn't angry, he was furious. Brock and him were sitting in the hospital waiting room, waiting for some word on Stephanie. Looking over he could tell that Brock was sitting there confused. Every wrestler wants to look up to someone and for Brock that someone had been Vince McMahon.  
  
" It's not your fault." Hunter whispered.  
  
" Look Hunter." Brock started.  
  
" We aren't working. My name is Paul." Paul said sternly. He remembered what Stephanie had said before the show about being a normal person and how she liked it when he was Paul.  
  
" Paul, I think that maybe we should work to get to the bottom of what Vince just did." Brock said. " I know you probably don't want to work with me but I want to help."  
  
" Brock I think that's a good idea. I know for a while I am going to be taking care of Stephanie so you can do the work at the arena. I don't want her by herself for a while." Paul said as he nodded his head.  
  
" Vince crossed the line and he hurt someone. He made it personal when in this business you can't afford anything to be personal." Brock said getting angry. " I can't wait until I get my hands on the jerk."  
  
" Well I guess that just means that we have some personal issues of our own to take care of." Paul said with a smirk.  
  
" All right. So where was evolution? According to my script they were supposed to come down and rescue Stephanie." Brock said with a frown.  
  
" I know I noticed they didn't as well. I think Ric and Randy have some explaining to do." Paul said with a furious nod.  
  
Later that night Paul had been convinced to head back to his hotel, the nurses had told him there was no point in having him stay at the hospital. He paced his room as he waited for Brock to let him know what Ric and Randy had to say.  
  
" Paul you in there?" Came the shout from the other side of his hotel room door.  
  
" Yeah come on in." Paul shouted back.  
  
" Ric and Randy are nowhere to be found." Brock said with a confused look. " They are still checked into this hotel and their gear is here but they are missing."  
  
" You're kidding." Paul said shocked.  
  
" Nope." Brock said shaking his head.  
  
" Well then I say we figure out what is going on and fix it." Paul said with a nod.  
  
" Agreed. How's Stephanie?" Brock asked, his features softening and he spoke of the woman who had been caught in the middle of the situation.  
  
" Shook up." Paul said. " She is hurt pretty bad. Her neck is sore, but thank god it's not broken. She has a severe concussion and she is pissed off. The wound's I am more worried about are the ones inside though. She won't admit it, but she was more hurt that her father would turn against her like that."  
  
" Then there is something that we need to do about this." Brock said with a sigh. " I can't believe all this is happening."  
  
" Well it's Vince what do you expect?" Paul said with a sigh.  
  
" True." Brock said with a shrug.  
  
Paul went back to the hospital later that night to sit with Stephanie. They said there was a chance she wasn't going to wake up for a long while. Her neck was in bad shape as well and it was clear that whoever did this meant business. Paul was going to make Vince pay if it was the last thing he did.  
  
2 weeks later.  
  
It was Smackdown time and Paul was walking through the arena to get to his locker room. It was his first night back since the night of Stephanie's injuries and he was determined to make someone hurt the way she was hurting at that very moment. He knew that Stephanie was awake now and that she was going to be watching the show tonight so he was determined to make her feel better. Ric and Randy had not yet shown up and Paul doubted they would for a long while.  
  
Paul waited for them to deliver his script so he could become Hunter again. As he waited he got a phone call on his cell phone from Linda. He had called and asked her to sit with Stephanie while he came to the arena to try and resolve some of the issues. After the show he was going to return to the hospital and be with her until it was time to catch a flight to the next place. He answered his phone with a sigh.  
  
" Hello?" He said unsurely.  
  
" Paul its Steph." Stephanie said into the phone.  
  
" Hey what's going on?" Paul asked her with a smile in his voice.  
  
" Dad has the doctor on his payroll." Stephanie said with a sigh.  
  
" What?" Paul all but yelled.  
  
" It doesn't matter. I am calling to tell you I have been released from the hospital." Stephanie said with a sigh. " Also dad has it where I have to show up to the arena tonight or else he will fire me."  
  
" Stephanie please don't. I am sure we could figure something out." Paul all but begged of her into the phone.  
  
" No I will not let him win." Stephanie said with a stubborn sigh. " Could you just meet me in the parking lot? I would feel so much safer if you were there."  
  
" Of course I will." Paul said with a reluctant voice.  
  
" Thanks." Stephanie said before she hung up.  
  
Paul walked through the arena and into the parking lot. He stood there until he saw Stephanie get out of a limo. She smiled when she saw him and then winced when she had to take a step. He could tell she was in a lot of pain. He walked over to her and then picked her up.  
  
" Paul put me down." Stephanie laughed.  
  
" Nope." Paul said shaking his head.  
  
" Why not?" Stephanie asked him.  
  
" Because it hurts you to walk." Paul said as he kissed her lightly on the cheek.  
  
" Well I am gonna walk when we see my dad." Stephanie said stubbornly.  
  
" All right but not before then." Paul said with a smile.  
  
" All right." Stephanie agreed.  
  
Paul carried Stephanie to his dressing room since there was no office designated for her at the arena. No one had thought she would show up because of her severe injuries. He laid her gently on his couch and then went to the food table.  
  
" Want something to eat or drink?" Paul asked her.  
  
" No thanks." Stephanie said with a smile. " Come sit and talk with me. Did you find Randy and Ric?"  
  
" Nope." Paul shook his head.  
  
" Where do you think they could have gone?" Stephanie asked confused.  
  
" No one knows." Paul said with a sigh.  
  
" I'm sorry. I know they are your friends." Stephanie said with a sigh.  
  
" Yeah well. Sable has been running Smackdown with you gone." Paul said with a wince.  
  
" What?" Stephanie all but screeched. " Oh hell no."  
  
" Stephanie listen it's your show. We all know that and none of us really pay attention to her." Paul said quickly.  
  
" I know but it kills me that dad could be so blind." Stephanie said. " I was daddy's little princess and I doubt he would have hurt me if it weren't for her. She had to have put him up to this."  
  
" You don't know that." Paul pointed out with a sigh.  
  
" Well what I do know is that I am gonna make everyone sorry they messed with me." Stephanie said.  
  
What no one knew was that things were about to go from bad to worse. 


	6. The discovery

Chapter 6  
  
Paul sighed as he saw Stephanie napping on the couch. He could already tell she was exhausted and completely drained. He really wished she hadn't come tonight but he knew for her it was a matter of pride. Sighing he shook his head as he turned away from her. She looked like an angel as she slept and he knew he was lucky to have her. To the world some people saw her as a bitch but nobody knew what the real her was like. She was sweet and innocent and she was hurting inside right now.  
  
Stephanie opened her eyes and smiled at Paul who was watching her. Sitting up she winced and then smiled again.  
  
" You shouldn't be here." Paul said shaking his head.  
  
" We've established that you feel that way. But I'm here so get over it." Stephanie said with a sigh.  
  
" All right but I'm going to be looking after you all night." Paul said with a serious look.  
  
" I got the point." Stephanie said getting frustrated.  
  
Stephanie was getting tired of Paul telling her what he was going to do. With a sigh she looked towards the bathroom he was in and smiled. She knew she needed to face her problem on her own. She got off the couch quickly and winced in pain. Taking a deep breath she walked to the door and quietly opening it. She snuck out of it and headed down the hall. She glanced behind her a couple times until she had turned one of the corners and could no longer see the dressing room that was Paul's. She looked for her dads dressing room and when she found it she knocked on the door. Without waiting for a reply she opened the door and walked inside. Her eyes widened as she noticed Ric Flair and Randy Orton sitting in there with tape on their mouths and their hands tied behind their backs.  
  
" Are you two all right?" She whispered as she glanced around.  
  
They both nodded their heads with wide eyes. Stephanie snuck over to them and quickly untied their hands. As they pulled the tape off their mouths and untied their feet she smiled at them.  
  
" So you didn't just leave me hanging?" Stephanie asked with a sigh of relief.  
  
" No way! Are you kidding we would never double cross Hunter." Randy said shaking his head.  
  
" All right come on. Have you seen my dad anywhere?" She asked as they headed towards Hunter's dressing room.  
  
" Not since we made the big guys drop us off in there. Said you were coming tonight and you should find us like that." Ric said shaking his head.  
  
" So he wanted me to find you? But he knew Hunter would never let me out of his sight." Stephanie said confused.  
  
" He also knows you. He knew you would sneak out when you had a chance to." Randy pointed out. " Look he was right about that."  
  
" Yeah well I should have known that to." Hunter said standing in front of them with an angry look.  
  
Stephanie turned and looked at him with wide eyes. She gulped as she moved to stand behind Randy and Ric. She had never really seen the kind of anger in Hunter's eyes that she was seeing right now.  
  
" I just wanted to take a walk." Stephanie said stuttering.  
  
" You just happened to walk into your fathers office?" Hunter said not buying it.  
  
" Well it's on the way back from where I was walking and I heard some noises from inside and investigated and look what I found." Stephanie said trying to think of a convincing lie.  
  
" Stephanie I can't believe you're lying to me right now." Hunter exploded in anger. " I would have figured you learned your lesson after what happened last time!"  
  
Stephanie looked down at the ground frightened. She felt the tears fall from her eyes as she backed away from the three males and straight into someone else. She glanced up and turned towards the figure with fear in her eyes. Standing right in front of her was the A Train. Stephanie started backing away from him, but he reached out and grabbed her arm.  
  
" Well since it seems that Hunter here doesn't want ya anymore Stephanie why don't you just come and be my fun toy." A train said to her.  
  
" Let me go." Stephanie said frightened. Her entire body started shaking and she felt like she was going to throw up at any time.  
  
" I see you found our presents for you. Naughty Stephanie wasn't supposed to get them until later on." A train said shaking his head as he pulled her against his chest. " What do you think Hunter do we make a great couple?"  
  
" A wonderful couple." Hunter said with no sympathy.  
  
Stephanie turned shocked eyes to him and saw him leaving with Ric and Randy. She couldn't believe he was going to let this monster take her.  
  
" I knew he never loved me." She muttered to herself as A train leaned down to give her a kiss. " Stop it! Leave me alone!" Stephanie shouted with complete fear in her voice.  
  
Hunter, Ric and Randy were standing around the corner listening to everything that was going on.  
  
" Why are you putting her through this man?" Randy asked confused.  
  
" So she can see what happens when she leaves the room without me." Hunter said simply.  
  
" Well can't you tell she is terrified Hunter." Ric said feeling sympathy for Stephanie.  
  
" You're hurting me!" Stephanie shouted as tears of pain shot to her eyes.  
  
" Shut up you're mine now. Hunter don't want a little slut like you!" A train said as he tried to kiss her.  
  
" Oh god someone please help me." Stephanie said crying.  
  
" Leave her alone." Hunter said walking back towards them with Randy and Ric.  
  
" You said." A train started.  
  
" Forget what I said and leave her alone. Get your hands off of her or your going to have some serious problems." Hunter said angrily.  
  
" Fine you want the slut take her." A train said as he pushed Stephanie forcefully into Hunter.  
  
Stephanie quickly jumped away from Hunter and stood in the middle of the guys. Hunter reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her behind him.  
  
" You ever come near her again and you are going to be one sorry wrestler." Hunter said as he picked Stephanie up and carried her back to his dressing room. Once they were settled inside he placed her gently on the couch as Randy and Ric shut and locked the door, standing guard.  
  
" What do you think you're doing? You said you didn't want me anymore and so I don't need to be here." Stephanie said trying to get up.  
  
" If you move from that couch I will whip you Steph." Hunter said with a sigh. " I didn't mean what I said. I love you so much and I wanted you to see why I didn't want you leaving without me. What happened with Albert could have easily gone the other way if I hadn't been there."  
  
" Don't you ever put me through that again because I won't forgive you next time." Stephanie said crying.  
  
" I'm sorry Steph." He said as he held her.  
  
Vince was getting angry as he realized that Ric and Randy were already gone. He looked at Sable and nodded his head. They were about to go to plan C. He knew for sure that Stephanie would quit and thank him later when this was all finished. Little did she know she was about to face the biggest challenge of her life. 


	7. The Mystery Wrestlers

Chapter 7  
  
Stephanie sighed as she saw Hunter getting ready for his match tonight. He had already informed her she was staying behind and Ric and Randy would be taking care of her. She frowned when he left the dressing room to head down to the ring. She turned on the monitor and got ready to watch his match, with Ric and Randy by her side.  
  
Hunter walked down to the ring with a worried look on his face. It was well known that you didn't cross Vince McMahon. He knew that tonight Vince could try and make him regret ever setting eyes on Stephanie but Hunter didn't care about that. The truth was he could never regret laying eyes on Stephanie because he loved her too much. He knew that she was watching and at any sign of trouble she would try and come down, which was why no one was supposed to leave her alone. If there was trouble only one of the guys was allowed to leave the dressing room to come to his rescue because it was too dangerous for Stephanie to be alone.  
  
Stephanie could tell that her father was up to something and it was really scaring her. If Hunter got hurt tonight than she would never forgive herself. She closed her eyes and decided not to watch the match, it scared her too much.  
  
When the match started Hunter was getting his butt beat royally. Vince had made it special and the A Train was doing a lot of damage with the help of his buddies. Hunter knew that Stephanie was watching the match and was most likely worrying about him and so he got up a little bit of strength and landed a couple of blows on A train. Vince decided at that point to interfere and grabbed a chair, slamming it into Hunter's head.  
  
Ric and Randy were watching this whole scene with winces. They really wanted to get down there and help him out but they had strict orders not to leave Stephanie alone.  
  
"Why doesn't Randy go down and help him and you can stay with me?" Stephanie asked after wincing one to many times. "One of you needs to help him."  
  
"Stephanie we are under strict orders that no one is to leave you alone." Ric said shaking his head.  
  
"I won't be alone. You'll be here but someone needs to help him." Stephanie cried as she jumped off the couch and winced at the pain the sudden movement caused.  
  
At that moment the door came flying open and some wrestlers that Stephanie didn't recognize came flying inside. They attacked Ric and Randy and took them out and then turned their attention to the vulnerable Stephanie. Stephanie backed away from them and tried to get away but realized she was trapped in the room. Soon one of them had her around the waist and lifted her over his shoulder and ran out of the room with her screaming the whole time.  
  
Paul limped backstage after everything was broken up in the ring. Brock had come down and given him a hand and they had ended up taking out the A train so that they could get out of there. To say that Paul was angry was an understatement and as he and Brock walked to the dressing room he tried to tamp down that anger so that he wouldn't take it out on Stephanie.  
  
They opened the door and walked inside only to see furniture thrown everywhere and Ric and Randy lying unconscious on the floor. They rushed over to their side and noticed the blood pouring from different wounds. Paul looked around the entire dressing room and noticed that Stephanie was missing. He jumped up and looked at Brock with an angry expression.  
  
"What's wrong?" Brock asked him confused, not knowing that Stephanie was here that night.  
  
"Stephanie is missing." Paul said thinking that maybe Stephanie defied him and left the room.  
  
"She was here?" Brock asked him shocked.  
  
"Yeah she was. I bet she just left to go off and do something." Paul said kicking the overturned chair.  
  
Just then the monitor flashed to a moments ago thing and Brock turned Paul to watch it.  
  
"Moments ago a couple of unidentified wrestlers were seen leaving the building with a terrified Stephanie McMahon over their shoulders." Tazz said as they flashed to the wrestlers carrying a screaming Stephanie over their shoulders. They showed them getting into a car and then speeding away.  
  
"It didn't look to me like she wanted to go with them." Tazz's co- host for the night said.  
  
"You know I am thinking that maybe Hunter is going to freak out and take care of this as soon as he can." Tazz said shaking his head.  
  
The monitor then flashed to see Vince's reaction to the abduction and everyone saw the evil smirk on his face. At that moment Paul knew that Vince was involved in what had just taken place and the only thing he wanted to do was go in there and wipe the evil smirk off of his face.  
  
Stephanie felt the ropes dig into her wrists as she struggled with her binds. She felt the hot tears drip from her eyes as she struggled to get ropes off so she could get away. She heard the door open and knew that her captors had returned to see her. She stopped struggling and prayed they hadn't been watching her. Her cheek already burned from when she had tried to fight back and they had slapped her. She closed her eyes and prayed that Paul would find her and save her. At the moment all she had were her thoughts of him and everything he had done for her.  
  
Will Paul find Stephanie and save her before something really bad happens? Who are the mystery wrestlers and are they working for Vince? 


	8. The new man

Chapter 8  
  
Paul was pacing in his hotel room again as he looked around at the people gathered in there. Randy and Brock were sitting on the bed and Linda and Shane were sitting on the couch. Ric was in the hospital still with severe wounds and Paul was worried about him as well. Sighing he walked over and sat back down in the chair as he looked at the people around him again.  
  
"I hate that I am just sitting her doing nothing when Stephanie is missing." He said angrily.  
  
"There isn't much you can do Paul. There are no leads to go on and at this point even the police are confused." Linda said upset that something like this could happen. "I mean I don't get why someone would do this."  
  
"Isn't it obvious that Vince has something to do with this?" Brock said angrily getting to his feet. "I say we go and beat the crap out of him until he tells us who has Stephanie and where."  
  
"That's not going to work with him." Shane said shaking his head at Brock. "If Vince does something he makes sure that no one can find out about it."  
  
"Well he has to have Stephanie somewhere." Brock said as he sat back down next to Randy.  
  
"I agree but until we find out where and who has her we are going to have to be super nice to Vince so that he doesn't take anything we do out on her." Linda said with a sigh. She was really worried about her daughter and she wasn't all that sure that Vince wouldn't hurt her anyway just to spite everyone that cared about her.  
  
Stephanie glanced up with wide eyes as one of the men sat down next to her. He rubbed her arm gently as he winked at her. Stephanie gulped as she tried to scoot away only to have him grab her arm and pull her closer to him.  
  
"You know you're even prettier than what we see on TV." He said in a soft tone.  
  
"Let me go." Stephanie pleaded. "Please I'll pay any price you want if you let me go."  
  
"Sorry we have our orders." He said as he leaned in close to her. " Besides I think after you spend some time with us you won't want to leave." The man said with a chuckle.  
  
"You're really sick you know that. Whatever you think you're going to get out of keeping me here you're wrong." Stephanie said as she spat in his face.  
  
"You little bitch." The man said smacking her hard. "I was being really nice to you and you had to go and be rude. No wonder your own father hates you so much." He said as he pushed her down onto the bed. He strapped her legs fully down before untying her hands and handcuffing her spread eagle style on the bed. "Enjoy your new position, according to your dad you love to spread your legs." The man said chuckling as he left the room.  
  
Stephanie felt the hot tears fall from her eyes as she tried to forget about the pain she was feeling or the coldhearted words that man had said to her. She closed her eyes and tried to picture Paul, the only person she felt really cared about her. She hoped that he found her soon because she didn't have a clue what these men were going to do to her and she was really scared.  
  
Paul and Randy walked into Ric's hospital room and saw him staring at the wall. Batista sat in a chair with an angry look on his face as he looked up at the two men that entered.  
  
"I can't even take a small vacation?" He asked angrily.  
  
"Look this has nothing to do with you." Randy said crossing his arms in front of him.  
  
"I am part of evolution to, or did you forget that little fact?" Batista asked as he got to his feet.  
  
"No we remember who you are but right now we have more important things to worry about." Randy said as he shook his head at his friend. " Paul really love's Stephanie and now she is missing."  
  
"I know I have been watching the show." Batista said sarcastically.  
  
Paul walked over and sat on the bed next to Ric. He cleared his throat to let Ric know it was time for him to turn and talk to him.  
  
"Look Paul I'm sorry all right. I don't know what happened or how they got to her but they did and I am so sorry that I screwed up." Ric said softly as he turned his head to face Paul.  
  
"Look right now we just want to find her. I place the blame solely on her father." Paul said reassuring his friend. "I just need to know how to get to Vince so I can find out who took Steph and how to get her back."  
  
Stephanie glanced up as the door opened and a man came wondering inside. He grinned with his crooked teeth and leaned over Stephanie on the bed. His breath smelled like rotten fish and his brown hair was ragged like it hadn't been cut or even trimmed in years. His eyes appeared to be a deep yellow that scared the crap out of Stephanie who gulped. She closed her eyes, hoping that when she would reopen them that this horrible man would be gone but when did he was still there and he was happy with how he was making her feel. Stephanie struggled against her binds again and felt the blood ooze from her wrists as the sharp pain splintered through her arms, letting her know all she had done was hurt herself and she wouldn't be able to get free.  
  
Paul was lying wide-awake on his bed in his hotel room. All he could think about was the pain he felt Stephanie was probably going through. He closed his eyes and then opened them as an image of a poor and frightened Stephanie haunted his mind. He could already tell that he would not get any sleep until Stephanie was home safe and sound. Then he would personally kill whoever took her and if she was hurt then they would die a slow and painful death.  
  
The next morning Paul walked through the new arena they were filming at until he came face to face with Vince McMahon. He looked him up and down until he could feel the older man squirm under his gaze.  
  
"If anything happens to Stephanie than you will pay personally." Paul threatened simply as he walked away from the older man whose eye's had gone wide at the threat.  
  
Stephanie woke up with sharp pains shooting throughout her body. She could feel every place that those men had hit her scream in agony. She groaned as she tried to forget what had happened the night before but it was no use, it would forever haunt her. Sighing she looked up as the door opened again and this time a familiar face walked in, someone she knew quit well. Her eyes widened as she saw who was standing there grinning at her.  
  
"Why are you doing this?" She asked terrified.  
  
"Because I can and because Vince is more powerful than anyone." The man whispered as he sat down next to her. "But don't worry your daddy's on his way, we'll deal with this later on."  
  
Who is the man she knows? What will happen to Stephanie next and what exactly happened to her the night before? Please keep reading and reviewing and thank you to everyone who has been it means a lot to me to read your reviews... Keep them coming! 


	9. Returned

Chapter 9  
  
Stephanie struggled against the binds that continued to hold her against her will. She looked up as her father walked into the room with his arms crossed in front of him.  
  
"You know Stephanie I have been told you are being very difficult." He said with a sigh.  
  
"Shut up asshole." Stephanie snapped as she looked away from him.  
  
"That's not a nice thing to say to your father." Vince said with a smile as he sat on the bed next to a defenseless Stephanie.  
  
"I don't have a father." Stephanie spat as she turned her head away, hating the helpless feeling she was struggling with.  
  
"Aw Stephanie I know you wont feel that way for very long." Vince said with a smile as he kissed his daughters temple and then got up and left the room.  
  
Paul was sitting at the desk in his hotel room, staring at the picture in front of him. Why did everything always have to happen to her? Why couldn't they just learn to leave her alone? Paul threw the framed photo against the wall and got up and paced the room. If they hurt her he wasn't sure what he was going to do but he would definitely do something bad to them all.  
  
The show started just like it always did, with a rivalry about to break loose and a couple of brawls. Paul didn't see the van pull into the parking lot or the group of individuals that climbed out of it with a helpless woman in their arms. He was sitting in the dressing room with his monitor off and his head in his hands as he prayed for her safe return. He heard the crowd gasp and frowned, reaching for his remote to see what could have them in a horrified state like it sounded like they were in.  
  
The men held Stephanie down in the ring with a sledgehammer next to her. They smirked at the horrified expression on Stephanie's face as she glanced from their tool to their faces as if to see if they would really use that weapon on her. She glanced to the top of the ramp and was relieved to see Brock Lesner running down the ramp to try and help her. She saw one of the bigger men slam into Brock and slam something into his head and her hopes were dashed as she saw the blood and she saw him hit the ground hard.  
  
Paul was seeing red as he saw Stephanie's look of pure fear on her face. He saw her look at what was happening to Brock and he could tell that she was picturing the same thing happening to her. He had to come up with a plan to get out there without someone seeing him. He needed to rescue her before they hurt her so severely that she would never be the same again.  
  
Vince was watching with pleasure written on his face. He loved watching Stephanie struggle against her binds and he loved watching her tears fall from her wide with fear eyes. He knew that the people around him that knew he set this up thought of him as a monster and that was fine with him. He didn't care what other people thought as long as he got his way and his daughter learned that she couldn't fuck with her father and expect to get away with it. He grinned when he saw one of his new little minions smack Stephanie across the face so hard that she tasted more blood. Oh he was going to enjoy watching every little bit of this little game.  
  
Linda walked down the ramp slowly but surely. She glanced at the monsters who were holding her daughter and then lifted the microphone to her mouth and began to speak.  
  
"If you wish to walk out of this arena without any problems than I would suggest that you let her go without harming her anymore." Linda said stiffly.  
  
The men stopped and looked at Linda and shook their heads no as they lifted the sledgehammer and got ready to hit Stephanie with it. Stephanie was shaking with fear as she tried to scoot herself away but couldn't because of the binds that held her in place. She glanced at her mother in fear and hoped that she would turn and walk the other way. Stephanie didn't want her mom to end up in the ring with her, but then it was to late because she saw the man sneak up behind her mother and grab her, throwing her roughly into the ring where she was smacked around a few times.  
  
Paul met with Shane and they both made the decision to just run in through the audience and jump the barriers. They glanced at the monitor and realized they had better hurry before the sledgehammer replaced the fists they were using.  
  
He watched them make their decision and grinned. He knew what they were going to do and technically he should be telling Vince about their little plan but it was time to reveal who he and his new friends were to everyone and so he just turned and got ready to walk down the ramp to the ring to torture his old friends with the help of his new found friends.  
  
He lifted the sledgehammer in his hands and raised it high above his head. He wasn't sure which one he should hit first but he closed his eyes and made the decision. He felt the sledgehammer hit his target and then he heard the crowd screaming. He opened his eyes and turned towards the audience and saw a flash just before he felt someone's fist come into contact with his face.  
  
Shane slammed into the guy with the sledgehammer while Paul got busy with the other guys. Soon they had them down on the ground and were working on untying the women and tending to the one who got his with the sledgehammer. They got the women untied and then looked at the ramp when the music started, both of their eyes went wide when they saw who was standing up there next to Vince with smirks on their faces. Oh yeah there was going to be hell to pay. 


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Sorry that I haven't been able to update but I have been really sick and my computer has been messed up. Try and keep up from now on.

* * *

Chapter 10

Hunter took a deep breath as he held a terrified Stephanie in his arms. He stroked her hair away from her face and looked at the men standing at the top of the ramp. He glanced over at Shane who was holding onto his mother and could tell that he was just as shocked as he was.

" Are you okay?" Hunter asked Stephanie as the men went behind the curtain, leaving everyone alone in the ring.

" Yeah." Stephanie nodded slowly, feeling intense pain. Her battered body had taken way to many beatings in the short amount of time. It needed to recover and soon because she was afraid she was going to have permanent damage. " Are you okay?" Stephanie asked seeing the dark circles under his eyes.

" I will be as soon as we get you to a hospital and find a doctor not on your fathers payroll. I am gonna keep you safe Steph, I swear it." Hunter said as he kissed her temple.

" I believe you." Stephanie said trying to smile but failing miserably.

* * *

Vince stared at his new team that had been assembled and he grinned happily. This was exactly what he had wanted from the start and now he had it. He looked at the monitor that showed Hunter cradling Stephanie in his arms as if he were afraid to let her go. Well that was just fine with him, as long as he realized what he was getting himself into. Smirking he looked at Sable who was filing her nails and glancing occasionally at the monitor, he could tell her focus was on Shane and Linda. Vince knew Sable hated Linda with a passion and he was trying to think of a way that he could help her get over that hatred and please her at the same time.

" You want to wrestle her don't you?" Vince asked softly.

" Yup." Sable said nodding her head fast.

" Well Linda has just as much power as I do so it might be impossible for me to get her into a match with you." Vince said sighing as he looked back at the monitor to see Shane lifting his mother up gently.

" Well you can figure it out. You have always found a way to get what you want so why would now be any different?" Sable asked with a grin.

" It wont be. I am just warning you it might be next to impossible to get her to agree to a match." Vince said shrugging his shoulders and then looking down, trying to think of a way he could get his wife to wrestle Sable.

* * *

Stephanie sat in the hospital bed with an angry look. She hated hospitals almost as much as she hated her father at this moment. She looked over and saw Paul sitting there looking at her with a worried look. " Paul I'm not gonna sneak out of this hospital as much as I want to. I promised you I would stay here so you could go be Triple H without worrying about me." She said with a sigh as she rolled her eyes at him.

" It's not like I want to go and be Triple H, Stephanie." Paul said crossing his arms in front of him. " It's just I don't have much of a choice on the matter."

" I know that and I'm sorry if I offended you a few minutes ago." Stephanie said with a sigh. "I'm just tired of everyone thinking I can't take care of myself."

" I know but look at your condition Steph. We just wanna make sure that nothing really bad happens. Look I need to go and deal with this whole betrayal situation and stuff and I want to check on Brock and see how he's doing." Paul said getting to his feet. " Try not to give the doctors anymore grief all right?"

" Yeah whatever." Stephanie muttered as she watched him leave the room. She didn't mean to be rude to him it was just that she was tired of being hurt and she was feeling really bad for what happened to her mom. She leaned into the pillows behind her and looked at the blank television screen. She hated the fact that Paul had been betrayed by someone he felt so close to and she felt it was all her fault. She heard the door open and figured it was probably her brother. She turned her head towards the door and her eyes widened. " What do you want?"

" Well I came to see how you were doing." He said as he walked over to the bed and sat in the chair next to it.

" You better get out of here before Paul gets back and sees you." Stephanie said not sure at all whether Paul was coming back tonight or not.

" Nice try Steph but I think visiting hours are almost over and he is spending the last of them with Brock." The man said rolling his eyes.

" How could you do this to him? You were his best friend." Stephanie said shaking her head in disgust. " He trusted you with everything."

" Yeah well he never asked me what I wanted Stephanie. Never once in our entire friendship was he there for me." The man snarled angrily.

Stephanie realized she needed to keep him calm otherwise he might attack her and she would be helpless against him. " Look I'm sure he didn't mean to dismiss you if that's what he did. I don't think he realized how you felt."

" Nice try but you can't make me believe that anymore. I used to think that he would one day see the light but he didn't. Not even after I told him I wanted a chance to be with you. He laughed in my face and told me that was a good joke. Said he fell in love with you and that he had better have been a joke." The man said remembering their conversation. " I couldn't believe he would be that stupid, to fall in love with a bitch like you but apparently he did."

" Look you should just leave now while you can." Stephanie said taking a deep breath.

" Well maybe I don't feel like leaving just yet. I'll leave when I want to." The man said as he reached out to grab Stephanie.

She saw the hand come out of nowhere to slam into the man as he fell on top of her and then she promptly passed out from fear.

* * *

AN: Who is the mystery man and who betrayed Triple H.. .Find out next chapter. 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 

Hunter lifted the man off of Stephanie and looked her over with fear in his eyes. What happened to her? He couldn't see any new injuries but that would be hard to tell with the way she was looking. He glanced at the man who had betrayed him in so many ways and shook his head in disgust. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with him but he would definitely figure it out.

" Paul?" Stephanie whispered waking up.

" Yeah. Did he hurt you?" Hunter asked gently as he stroked her hair lovingly.

" No. I guess I just fainted because I was so scared." Stephanie admitted sheepishly.

" Hey that's ok Steph." Hunter said kissing her forehead gently. " You've been through a lot and if I were you I would be terrified to."

" No you wouldn't have been but it was sweet of you to say that." Stephanie said with a grin.

" Whatever you say." Hunter said as he heard a groan from behind him. Glancing back he saw the man coming to and turned angry as he walked over and stood in front of him. " What in the hell did you think you were doing?"

" None of your business." He said with a grin.

" Well here let me tell you what happens now. I'm gonna kick your ass until you tell me whats going on and why you thought you could put your hands on Stephanie." Hunter said taking a menacing step towards him.

* * *

Vince walked into the room with a smirk on his face. He watched Hunter advance towards his associate and made a tsking sound to stop him in his tracks.

" Now why would you want to hurt one of your friends?" Vince asked as he closed the door behind him and leaned on it.

" You have a lot of nerve coming in here after what you did to your own daughter." Hunter said turning his attention to his ex father-in-law.

" Well Stephanie just needed to be taught a lesson. You see I don't like it when people don't do what I want them to." Vince said simply as he glanced at his wide-eyed daughter. " Stephanie let's just face it. You're not cut out for this business anymore. Now I can't fire you, being the strong negotiator that you are you got that into your contract. But I will make sure that you quit." Vince said with a sigh.

" And how are you going to do that?" Stephanie asked hesitantly.

" By putting you into a major match of course. The terms will be simple and I'll get them to you as soon as possible." Vince said as he nodded towards the man in the room. " He will most likely be your opponent."

" No way." Hunter spoke up. " If you even think about putting her in the ring with him I will tear you apart."

" Oh come on Hunter. It's not that big of a deal." The man said getting up. " You wrestled with me before." He said laughing.

* * *

Stephanie glanced over at the man Hunter had considered a good friend and shuddered. She couldn't imagine what he was going to do and what he would have done if Hunter hadn't of come back to the room when he did. Gulping she looked at him very closely and shook her head clear.

" You were part of his team and you were a friend. Why would you hurt someone who only thought of you as a friend? Why would you do that Jesse?" Stephanie asked.

" Well you see he was the reason I was no longer wrestling for a while. So when Vince called and he said I could come back and this would be a great come back I had to take it. You ruined everything! You made him into a spitting fool with everything you did and I hate you for it. X-pac is coming back to and he is going to make sure you rot for what you did." Jesse James said with a snarl.

" I won't let anyone near her. Get the hell out of here. And Jesse if you want to make a come back so badly well how about a one on one match. You and me buddy, I'll show you what pain feels like." Hunter said to the man he once thought of as a friend.

" It's up to the boss man. But I will see Stephanie in the ring." Jesse said laughing as he and Vince left the room.

* * *

Hunter watched the two men leave and clenched his fists at his side. He should have taken care of them right then and there but there was no way he would do anything that might put Stephanie at risk. He turned back and saw her watching him with concerned filled eyes.

" Hey it's all right." Hunter said as he sat on the bed next to her. " Everything is going to be just fine."

" You don't know that Paul." Stephanie said softly. " What if he does force me into the ring with Jesse? What if there is a plan and there is nothing anyone can do to help me?"

" Nothing bad is going to happen to you, I promise." Hunter said as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

" Are you all right?" She asked after a moment of silence.

" Yeah just fine." Hunter said with a grin. " I mean it sucks that a friend of mine would be involved in this but I'll get over it."

" I wish I were as sure as you about that." Stephanie said with a small smile. " I just don't want anything to happen to you."

" Well stop worrying about me and start worrying about yourself. Stephanie right now you are my main concern and no one or nothing else." Hunter said with a smile of reassurance.

" Thanks Paul." Stephanie said with a grin.

" Your welcome Steph. Now I am going to talk that nurse into letting me sleep in that chair right there so you won't be alone tonight. You try and get some rest." Hunter said as he got up to go and talk to the nurse.

" You shouldn't have to sleep in the chair. I'll be fine Paul, really. Go back to your hotel room and get some rest." Stephanie said not wanting him to sleep uncomfortably.

" Sorry but I'm not letting you out of my sight. I can't leave you here knowing that they want to hurt you Stephanie. I love you to much to see you get hurt anymore than you already have been. Now shut up and close those beautiful eyes of yours and sleep." He said as he walked out of the room to talk to the nurse.

* * *

Stephanie's jaw dropped as she heard him say the words I love you. She hadn't thought he would say them again. She watched him walk over to the nurses station just outside her door and she glanced down at her bed. She loved him so much and that's why everything was killing her inside. She didn't want to lose him again and she certainly didn't want to see him suffer. Yet now because of her one of his close friends was now his enemy and it seemed like another one might be as well. She gulped as she tried to come up with a plan to fix this mess that she had gotten herself into. There had to be some way that she could make everything all right again without anyone sacrificing anything that they believed in. There had to be some way that she wasn't thinking of yet. She would find out what it was and she would fix everything, she had to.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Stephanie was watching Hunter sleep with a smile on her face. He was so gorgeous and peaceful like when he was asleep. She thought about everything he had done for her and she smiled even more. She knew that he really loved her and that made her feel so special at the moment.

"Hey how long have you been awake?" Hunter asked as he started to wake up.

"Just a little bit." Stephanie said as she sat up a little bit more in bed. "Hunter I think you should head back to the hotel. I know you didn't sleep well last night and I just want to make sure that you get enough rest. I feel bad enough that you're stuck here with me all the time without having you lose out on sleeping in a nice comfy bed."

"Stephanie just be quiet. I am not going anywhere so quit trying to get rid of me." Hunter said with a sigh.

"Well you can't say that I didn't try and help you out. If you get a stiff neck it's your entire fault." Stephanie said with a smile.

"Fine I agree with that." Hunter said with a chuckle.

* * *

A couple of days later Hunter walked through the hallway of Smackdown and could tell that everyone was staring at him. He shook his head, thinking he must be paranoid. He glanced over and noticed a technician giving him a funny look, and when he caught his eye he quickly turned away. Now he knew that something was up and he was starting to get a little worried about what it could be. He walked into the dressing room that was assigned to him and noticed a revised script lying there, now he knew what they were all worried about. He picked it up, prepared to see something that he wasn't going to like.

* * *

Stephanie sighed as she sat up and looked at her mother. When she was released from the hospital her mother had insisted that she go and stay with her. Stephanie could tell her mother had something on her mind and now it was a matter of getting it out of her.

"Will you just tell me what it is you want to say?" Stephanie asked with a sigh.

"You and Paul do not belong together Stephanie. Whether it's on the show or in real life you two just don't mesh. You're from completely different backgrounds and I just want to see you happy." Linda said with a sigh as the door opened and Shane walked inside.

"Okay that's enough badgering." Shane said rescuing his sister.

Stephanie smiled at her brother and winked, knowing he had only come to make sure she wasn't getting lectured to death by their mother. "What brings you by?" Stephanie asked with a knowing look.

"Well considering my baby sister got the living daylights beat out of her I thought I would stop by and see how she was feeling." Shane said somberly.

Stephanie could tell by the look on his face that something else was wrong. Something really bad had happened and she gulped, trying to think of what it could be that could be bugging her big brother. She bit her bottom lip and turned towards her mother.

"Mom do you think I could talk to Shane alone for a few minutes?" She asked her softly.

Linda looked at both of her children and saw the look on her son's face. She slowly nodded her head and smiled softly, "Of course." She said as she got up and walked out of the room. As she passed Shane she whispered softly to him, "Do not upset her."

* * *

Hunter angrily threw the script across the room and grumbled as he paced back and forth. How was he supposed to take on five guys at once? He knew this was punishment for going against what Vince wanted but five guys was a little extreme. He sighed as he sat down and ran his fingers through his long blonde hair. If Stephanie ever found out about this match she would blame herself and he didn't want that. He groaned as he leaned back into the soft cushions and was stunned when someone walked into the room.

"Considering the fact that you and I have a lot going on don't you think it's a little unfair to request a match like this without even including me? I have backed you up and been there to ruin my chances at a lot of things." An angry voice shouted at him.

* * *

Stephanie groaned as she realized what Shane was saying. Hunter was going to be deep crap tonight and it was all because of the fact that he went against her father. She sat up in the bed and threw the covers off.

"We have to help him." She said simply.

"Nope. You are going to stay here. I already took care of everything." Shane said with a grin.

"How could you have possibly taken care of everything?" Stephanie asked with a groan.

"Let's just say that Jesse and X-pac aren't the only two wrestlers that Hunter worked with." Shane said with a small laugh. "I made a little phone call and found someone who was more than willing to return for a little vengeance against everyone."

"Really?" Stephanie asked shocked. "Who might that be?"

"You're just going to have to wait and see just like everyone else Stephanie." Shane said shaking his head.

* * *

Hunter grinned as the plan was laid out in front of him. He would have to thank Shane later for coming up with this idea and for making his phone call. He laughed as he thought of the look on Jesse and X-pac's face when they saw who was with him.

"Now I am not the only one who is going to be helping you tonight. I am the only one you are allowed to know about and see at the moment." The voice said with a grin.

This night just might be fun after all.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Hunter was waiting at the top of the ramp for his music to hit. He was a little nervous about heading out there solo but it was all part of the plan that Shane had come up with. He bit his bottom lip nervously and then smirked as he thought of how much fun it was going to be to beat the living daylights out of everyone out there in the ring. Tonight was going to be the best night ever, except for when Stephanie came back, that was going to be a great night.

* * *

Stephanie stared at her brother as if he had lost his mind. How in the world could he think that sending Hunter out there alone would be all right? She wasn't all that sure what his plan was but she had a feeling she wasn't going to like it anyway. She glanced over at her mother who was on the phone with some people at the arena, they were going to keep her up to date about Hunter and everything going on that night.

* * *

Jesse and X-pac smiled as they realized that they were finally getting even with Triple H for everything he had done to them. He had always bossed them around and had to be the center of attention and now it was time that he learned his lesson and they would be the ones to teach it to him.

* * *

Hunter stood in the ring and stared at the two people who were once his friends and comrades. He could tell that he was in for the fight of his life. He took a deep breath and struggled to remember that he had some backup waiting in the back to help him. The only problem is he wasn't all that sure they were going to make it out there on time.

* * *

The match started and Hunter was still standing, always a good sign. He battled with Jesse and then battled with X-Pac but no matter what happened they always seemed to be stronger than he was. He took Jesse down and went for the pin when he heard a murmur from the crowd that usually meant that something was going to happen that probably wasn't good. He waited for the referee to count and glanced up when he didn't hear the palm tapping on the mat. The ref was down in the corner and X-Pac was grinning at him.

"What the…" Hunter started only to feel something smack him in the back of his head. He lost consciousness.

* * *

Vince grinned as he sent his new people down to the ring to help dismember Triple H. This was the moment he had always been waiting for, the moment Triple H would regret ever going against him. He glanced over his shoulder as he heard some unfamiliar music start to play. He looked around wildly but no one was showing themselves. Figuring it was nothing but a ploy to get him scared he shrugged and turned his attention back to the brutal attack in the ring.

* * *

The music played louder and the crowd was getting hyped as the beating in the ring stopped and everyone looked around for the source of the music. Someone was hiding out there and trying to scare them, everyone knew they were doing a good job. Then out of nowhere the crowd was screaming as someone made their way towards the barrier and then into the ring.

* * *

Hunter glanced up through blurry eyes and the blood that was pouring down his face. He managed a small grin as he saw his rescuers making their way into the crowded ring and over to his side. He wasn't sure what was going to happen next but at the moment he really didn't care. He waited patiently for someone to make the first move but nothing was done. He glanced around confused as everyone started laughing, the only thing he could think of was that he was fooled again. Another so called friend had become an enemy.

* * *

Stephanie was chewing on her nails as she waited for any word from Paul that he was all right. Triple H may seem like a tough guy but he was still human. She threw her hands into her lap and waited, always looking at the phone, willing it to ring. She banged the back of her head against the headboard of her bed and felt like screaming as loud as she could.

* * *

Hunter couldn't remember anything as he woke up in the back on a stretcher. He saw all the worried faces of paramedics around him and frowned at them confused. It didn't take a genius to figure out he had a concussion but something was bugging him.

"Where's my wife?" He asked softly. "Where is she?" He asked before he passed out.

* * *

Stephanie jumped when the phone rang and picked up quickly.

"Hello?" She asked timidly.

"Ms. McMahon, this is Dr. Reynolds over at Mercy General Hospital. I was wondering if there was any way you could get out here as soon as possible. We have a patient here who keeps asking for you." The doctors voice rang over the phone.

"I am on my way." Stephanie said even though she knew she was going to have to fight her mother and brother to get out of the house.

* * *

"Where's my wife?" Hunter shouted loudly. "I want Stephanie here now!"

"Sir, calm down, the doctor has talked to her and she is on her way here now." The nurse said softly trying to reassure him.

"Why wasn't she at the arena?" Hunter asked glaring at her. "She is always with me on the night's I wrestle."

"She was injured sir and was home recuperating like she promised you." The nurse reminded him softly.

* * *

Stephanie was shocked as she listened to what the doctor told her. Hunter had suffered a severe concussion and as part of that he had lost some of his memory. He didn't know that he and her were divorced. She was trying to figure out a way to tell him when the doctor informed her that she was supposed to play along.

"In order for him to really remember he must remember on his own. You mustn't tell him anything at all. Now I will allow you to tell him one thing and that is that you are no longer married but that's it. I don't want you going into any details about anything." The doctor informed her quickly as they walked towards his room.

Stephanie looked in and saw Hunter sitting there glaring at the nurse. She wasn't sure how she was going to tell him any of this or how she could hide the recent past from him. She knew that once he got his memory back things would be okay but until then would they be okay?


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Stephanie smiled a small smile as she walked towards the bed to rescue the poor nurse who looked like she was at her wits end with Hunter. She shook her head and giggled as she remembered the look on his face.

"Stop giving the nurse problems." She said to get his attention.

"Steph, baby, I was wondering where you were." Hunter said as his eyes lit up.

"We need to talk Hunter." Stephanie said with a frown as she nodded to the nurse who left the room. "The doctor said you lost some of your memory."

"I did?" He asked confused as he tried to think.

"Yeah, we aren't married anymore." She blurted out because she couldn't figure out how else to tell him. She could see the confusion cloud his eyes over as he tried to remember and tried to make sense of what she had just told him. She felt the pain in her heart as she watched the pain cross his face as he tried to make his brain work but knew it wasn't working.

"What do you mean?" He asked. "What happened?"

"The doctor said I can't tell you because then your memory might not come back then. The only thing I am allowed to tell you is that we are divorced, everything else you have to find out on your own." She said although it was killing her to tell him this.

"What if I never remember?" He whispered to her.

"I don't know." Stephanie said as some tears fell from her eyes. "I want you to know that we have been hanging out together lately since you are going to see that on TV and what happened to you tonight, this is all my fault. You always were protective of me." She said knowing that she was going against what the doctor wanted but not caring because she wanted to be honest with him.

"This is because even though we aren't married I am trying to keep you safe?" Hunter asked confused. "Please just tell me everything Stephanie." He whispered to her as he stared into her eyes.

* * *

Stephanie desperately wanted to give in and tell him everything he wanted to know but she knew she couldn't risk it. If she told him then he might not remember anything and that would just kill him on the inside. To be told something and never actually remember experiencing it, that had to be the worse feeling in the world, she thought. She smiled softly and shook her head side to side to let him know she wasn't going to tell him anything.

"Look I want you to take some time off and rest, maybe when you're by yourself you might be able to see things a little more clearly, you might be able to remember. That means that you have to stop looking out for me and start looking out for yourself." Stephanie said with a sigh. "I am going to have to go back to work at some point and you have to rest. You have to take care of yourself more than anyone else right now."

"Why have I been looking out for you over myself if we aren't married anymore? What has been happening to you that would make me worry?" Hunter asked getting frustrated with not knowing. He knew the answer was locked inside his brain but for some reason it wasn't getting out.

* * *

At that moment the doctor walked in and smiled at the two of them, clearing his throat her motioned for Stephanie to leave the room since she wasn't immediate family anymore. Slowly Stephanie got to her feet to leave the room when she felt Hunter's hand on her arm, the look on his face told her what she needed to know. He didn't want her to leave the room because as far as he was concerned she was his immediate family, his last memory was that they were married.

"She can stay." Hunter said simply to the doctor.

"All right. I wanted to make sure you didn't have any questions for me." The doctor said simply.

"Why is it that the last thing I remember is being married to Steph?" Hunter asked with an arched brow.

"Because Mr. Hemsley, your mind is trying to most likely tell you something. I can not be sure but sometimes patients that lose part of their memory remember the last time they felt really happy or they remember something that their mind wants them to replay for some reason." The doctor said with a small frown. "If you and Ms. McMahon got divorced, which I know you did because she has informed me that you divorced her, then maybe your mind wants you to evaluate your time together."

"I divorced her? Why, I mean I love her more than anything. That's why I really did what I did to get us married." Hunter said turning towards Stephanie. "I always loved you."

* * *

Stephanie couldn't take it anymore and left the room before he could see the pain and the tears. She knew it had always been her fault, the divorce and pain that she caused him, but to actually see the confusion on his face and hear him say that he had always loved her, even before they were married only made matters worse. She looked up when she felt like someone was watching her but didn't see anyone. The uneasy feeling continued and the only thing she wanted to do was run back in the room and have Hunter protect her but she knew that was wrong. He had to think about himself right now and not worry about her at all. She gulped as she turned in a slow circle trying to figure out who was there and couldn't see anyone. She decided she needed to leave at that moment before something really did happen, she no longer had Hunter on her side and that meant she had no one to keep her safe.

* * *

He watched her from his hidden corner and saw the fear on her face. This was going to be the funniest thing he had ever done. Mr. McMahon gave him an order and he intended to follow through with it. This was going to be even better than wrestling and taking her out in the ring. He would make her feel horrible about herself and he would break her spirit. The best part is that Triple H wouldn't get in the way, he wouldn't even remember anything about what was going on, he didn't know the danger that his precious Stephanie really was in. He laughed silently to himself and formulated his game plan in his head. Now it was time to show the world what he could really do. 


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

A few weeks later Stephanie was walking through the hallways trying to figure out what was going on around her. Everyone seemed to stop and stare as if they were curious as to how she was going to handle not having Hunter by her side. She sighed deeply as she almost ran straight into someone.

"Sorry." She mumbled as she slid past and continued on her way.

"You know Stephanie I think it's hilarious that you actually thought you would always have someone to keep you safe. You should have known by now that there is no one in this entire world that can keep you safe from harm." Came a shout out of nowhere.

Stephanie whirled around and looked at all the faces in the hallway but everyone else was busy talking to someone else, they were all acting like no one had just spoken to her and that nothing had been shouted at her. She turned back and started walking at a faster pace towards a dressing room so that she could be as far away from everything as possible.

* * *

Hunter looked around at the pictures surrounding him in his home. He had been sent home from the hospital but forbidden to even think about entering the ring for a while. He sighed as he noticed a couple of video tape sitting on top of his television marked Stephanie's problems. He frowned as he walked over and popped them into the VCR half of his DVD player. His eyes went wide as he watched the footage on the screen in front of him and felt sick to his stomach. It showed her manipulation going into the divorce and everything after that. He popped the tape out and threw it against the wall angrily. He felt a fresh wave of pain as he realized that Stephanie had tried to warn him about this.

* * *

Stephanie took deep calming breaths as her cell phone rang and she winced. She looked at the number and frowned when she saw it was Hunter's cell phone.

"Hello?" She answered slowly.

"I saw the footage of what went wrong between us. Why did you lie?" Hunter asked softly.

"I was wondering when you were going to know about all that. You didn't like my surprise and you even seemed kind of angry, it seemed like the best option at the time." Stephanie admitted slowly. "Look it's something that's in the past, it was a couple of years ago."

"I know but still…" Hunter started and then stopped as the new tape he had popped in started. He felt the rage inside him build as he saw Albert slam into Stephanie hard.

"What's wrong?" Stephanie asked hearing him trailing off.

"I am seeing the tape of you getting hurt by Albert." Hunter said sharply. "They have been doing this to you?"

"It's why you appeared all of a sudden." Stephanie admitted. "You have been completely overprotective of me."

"Are they still hurting you?" Hunter asked jumping to his feet even though she couldn't see him.

"Yes. That's how you got hurt. This all has to do with my dad and you know what happens when you cross Vince McMahon." Stephanie said with a sigh.

"I'm coming down to the next stop." Hunter said sharply.

"No you're not. You're on the injured list and you are going to stay at home and recuperate. Hunter, you're not going to do me any good injured the way you are. I'll just spend my time worrying about you rather than watching my own back." Stephanie pointed out trying to think of a way to keep him home.

"But…" Hunter started and then stopped. "All right, why don't you come out here and recuperate with me. That way you can be safe and I can recover."

"Dad has me booked solid. That's the reason they took you out Hunter, so they could get to me." Stephanie said shaking her head even though he couldn't see her. "I just want you to worry more about yourself than anyone right now all right? I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself for a while." She said more to reassure him than to be honest. She knew that she was going to end up getting hurt again, she just felt like something was really wrong and she didn't know exactly what it was at the moment.

* * *

Hunter could tell that something was really wrong. He could feel it in his gut that something was really wrong. He looked at the picture sitting on his fireplace mantel and realized that though he was divorced from Stephanie a part of him had never given up on her. A picture of them together after the wedding and after Stephanie got over being mad at me was sitting there staring back at him as if it had never been moved.

"Maybe the reason my memories took me back to being married is because that's where I want to be." Hunter whispered to himself.

* * *

Stephanie could feel the eyes staring at her and she knew that someone was there but she wasn't sure where they were. She was walking towards the entrance ramp to the ring to do her scheduled appearance but something told her to stop and just run back to the safety of her dressing room. She stopped in the middle of the hallway and turned in a slow circle, eyeing everyone standing there in the hallway. No one seemed to be paying her particular attention but that didn't mean that someone wasn't. She glanced at all the faces and even looked closely at the doors to make sure no one was hiding behind them, although she couldn't tell unless she walked up and checked them all personally. Deciding she was being paranoid she started towards the ramp again only to hear a voice right next to her ear.

"Don't you wish your little boyfriend could save you now?" Came the whisper.

Stephanie turned in a quick flurry of panic but no one was standing there. She bit her bottom lip and felt her breathing rise to a panic pace and decided not to make her appearance. She slowly backed up before she turned and ran towards her dressing room. Something was definitely wrong and she was going to have to figure it out all on her own.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Thank you for all the wonderful reviews everyone. That is what keeps me going when it comes time to write, is knowing that you all love the story and reading your reviews helps.

MissPhilippinesSuperStar I did not know until you told me that they were going to have a baby… Thanks for letting me know. That is exciting news.

* * *

Chapter 16

Stephanie sat in her dressing room as she listened to the crowd out in the arena. She knew she was supposed to be in the ring right now but she didn't feel like it would be the best idea for her to head down there. She looked at her cell phone and decided to call her mom and see if there was any way she could get her out of the solid bookings her father had gotten her into.

"Linda McMahon." Came the answer on the phone.

"Mom it's Stephanie. I was just wondering if there was any way you could get me out of my schedule. You see Hunter needs me to take care of him right now. He is freaking out that I am here by myself." Stephanie said hoping this would work.

"I figured he was since he just called me a few minutes ago and asked me the same thing." Linda said with a laugh.

"He did?" Stephanie asked a little touched by the gesture but angry because it meant he didn't trust her to take care of herself.

"Yes he did. In fact I was already looking into a way on how to get you out of your schedule." Linda said with a slight chuckle.

"Thanks." Stephanie said as she hung up the phone.

* * *

Hunter was waiting by the phone for a call from Linda McMahon that would let him know if she had found a way around her husbands set schedule for Stephanie or not. He was nervously bouncing his knee up and down as he waited by the phone. When it rang he was shocked at how fast her response had come.

"Did you figure it out?" He asked without looking at the caller ID or even offering a greeting.

"Figure what out?" Stephanie asked him. "Oh wait you were expecting my mother to be calling right?"

"Yeah." He admitted guiltily.

"I just got off the phone with her. She told me everything and I have to say I am not sure whether to be angry with you for going behind my back or grateful." Stephanie said softly.

"I like the grateful part." Hunter said quickly.

"I'll bet you do." Stephanie said and laughed. "So what made you decide to call my mother about all of this?"

"I'm worried about you. I have this gut feeling that since I'm not there something bad is going to happen." Hunter admitted slowly.

"I have the same feeling. Which is why I failed to appear outside in the ring tonight like I was supposed to, that and the fact that someone is messing with my head." Stephanie admitted slowly.

"What do you mean?" Hunter asked sitting up quickly.

"Someone is always right where I am. They start saying little things to me and when I turn to see who it is they aren't there. It's almost, not almost, it is really creepy." Stephanie said with a sigh.

"Stephanie grab your gear and leave. Who cares whether or not your mom can do this, I want you on the next plane out here. Let me know what flight you're on and I'll pick you up at the airport." Hunter said forcefully.

"Whoa, who died and made you the boss of my life?" Stephanie asked getting annoyed.

"Do you want to get hurt again?" Hunter asked pointedly.

"No." Stephanie admitted. "All right, but just this once. Don't think that this gives you permission to run my life."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Hunter said with a chuckle.

* * *

The next day Stephanie finally arrived at the airport in Hunter's hometown. She walked through the terminal and looked around for him. When she didn't see him right away she figured he was running late this morning. As she headed for baggage claim she heard the voice again and felt like freaking out. She kept her cool and stayed as calm as she could but hurried her steps and frantically looked for Hunter.

"Stephanie did you really think flying out here to loverboy would save you from me?" The voice whispered.

Stephanie stopped dead in her tracks and looked around for the voice. When she didn't see anyone paying any attention to her she started to feel a panic attack coming on. Just then she spotted Hunter waving at her from near the entrance to baggage claim.

* * *

Hunter spotted Stephanie and started waving his arms to get her attention. He saw her frantically looking around and figured she had been looking for him. When she finally did look at him he noticed her pale face and her wide eyes as she hurried towards him. He walked towards her at the same time and met her in the middle of the gap that had separated them.

"What's wrong?" He asked immediately as he took her carry-on bag from her shoulder.

"He's here." She said simply. She knew she wouldn't have to elaborate since she and Hunter had talked all last night on the phone. He had been worried when she couldn't get a flight out last night but agreed that as long as she left first thing in the morning it would be all right.

"Where?" Hunter asked looking around as they started walking towards baggage claim.

"I don't know. I don't even know what he looks like remember?" Stephanie said frustrated. "He just whispered in my ear again and then he was gone when I turned to look."

"We'll figure this out. Let's get your luggage and get out of here." Hunter said as they retrieved her things. "Are you hungry?"

"Not really." Stephanie said shaking her head.

"When was the last time you had something to eat?" Hunter asked eyeing her with a worried look.

"Ummm…" Stephanie said as she tried to remember.

"If you don't know off the top of your head than it's time to put some food in that system of yours." Hunter said strictly.

"I thought we agreed you weren't going to boss me around anymore." Stephanie said as she stopped halfway to Hunter's car.

"Well take care of yourself properly and I won't have to." Hunter said with a smirk.

* * *

Stephanie had to laugh a little but she still felt a little uneasy, almost like she was bringing trouble with her to Hunter's house.

* * *

He watched them get into Hunter's SUV and waited patiently. He was going to make them both wish they had never crossed Vince McMahon, just like he promised his boss he would. 


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Stephanie sighed as she picked at the food sitting in front of her. Hunter was in the other room making some phone calls and she was really bored. She had been out here for a couple of days now and it was always the same thing. She got up from her seat and wondered around the house. She hadn't really had a chance to look around yet and she was curious to see what Hunter had done with the place. She smiled when she saw a picture of his family.

"Always family oriented." Stephanie said to herself with a chuckle as she continued to wonder around.

She came to a door that was closed and when she tried the knob she found that it was locked. She frowned and looked up and down the hall to see if Hunter was anywhere around. Her curious nature was starting to kick in and she wanted more than anything to get into that room. She heard footsteps coming her way from around the corner and let go of the knob, quickly detouring to the bathroom.

* * *

Hunter smiled as he walked into the kitchen to see the plates sitting there. Stephanie had gone ahead and made them lunch like she said she would. He sat down at the table and waited for her to come back from wherever she had wondered off to. He frowned when he remembered how curious she was and got up again, intending to find her and make sure she wasn't going into that room.

"Going somewhere else?" Stephanie asked as she took a seat opposite him.

"Just remembering how curious you are and making sure you stayed out of the locked room." Hunter said simply as he sat back down.

"Why? Are you hiding a new wife in there? A dead body maybe?" Stephanie teased as she took a bite of food. She was hoping she could get him to give away whatever was behind that door.

"None of your business." Hunter said simply scrunching up his face.

"Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I bet you just need to go find yourself a woman to share it with you and then you'll be in a better mood." Stephanie said as she crossed her arms in front of her.

"Excuse me?" Hunter asked almost choking.

"Shane used to tell me all the time. If a guy is really cranky it's because he isn't getting any. It can't be helping you if I am here. Maybe I should go stay with Shane or my mom." Stephanie said worrying her lower lip.

"Not going to happen." Hunter said shaking his head. He was still in shock over what she had just said to him. "Besides the only woman I would even consider sharing my bed with is already in this room."

"Excuse me?" Stephanie asked, parroting Hunter's words from moments earlier. "You don't even like me like that."

"Show's how much you know." Hunter said with a shrug of his shoulders.

* * *

Stephanie stared at him in shock as she gulped slowly. So Hunter still found her attractive did he? She shook the thought off as she licked her suddenly dry lips. Was it just her or was it getting a little to hot in the room? She glanced over and saw Hunter's eyes smoldering. She remembered that look all to well. She rubbed her hand over the back of her neck as she tried to ignore the heated glances he was sending her way.

* * *

Hunter could tell he was making her feel uncomfortable but he really didn't care at the moment. All that really mattered to him was that he was feeling those feelings again and he wanted to know if she was feeling them to. He sighed and leaned back in his chair as he brought his hands up and rubbed them across his face.

"Stephanie I was watching old episodes of the show, of the time when we were married and I started to remember certain things. I wasn't exactly the best husband in the world. You were trying to surprise me with that whole wedding thing and I made you feel like it wasn't good enough. You didn't get the white dress wedding because of me. I'm sorry for all of that." Hunter said sincerely.

* * *

Stephanie stared at him with her jaw hanging open. She couldn't believe he had said all of that. She bit her bottom lip gently and then smiled.

"I owe you an apology as well. I should have just taken the heat from whatever you were going to say and not lied to you about being pregnant. The truth is I was really hoping I would have been at the time." Stephanie admitted sighing.

"What do you mean?" Hunter asked unsure of what he was hearing.

"The truth is at the time I made the announcement I thought I was. I just found out later that I wasn't and I saw how happy you were and I didn't want to disappoint you. I guess I just took the cowards way out because I was scared of what you would think." Stephanie admitted slowly.

"So you weren't trying to lie?" Hunter asked his eyes widening.

"Not at first." Stephanie said shaking her head.

"Come with me." Hunter said as he got up and held out his hand for her to take.

* * *

Stephanie grabbed his hand and walked with him down the hall. They stopped in front of the locked door and Stephanie glanced at Hunter to see a worried look on his face. She squeezed his hand tightly and as much as she really wanted to see what was behind that door she didn't want to rush him or force him to open it to show her. She waited patiently as he dug the key out of his pocket and grasped the handle, letting go of her hand. He unlocked the door but didn't open it right away, turning to face her instead.

"What you're about to see no one else knows about." Hunter admitted slowly.

Stephanie nodded her head and waited while he turned the handle and opened the door. Stephanie gasped with surprise at what she saw.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Stephanie whipped her head around wildly as she stared at everything around the room. It was the room she had described to him that she had always wanted. She turned tearful eyes towards him and bit her bottom lip as she noticed he was watching her closely. She tried to force a smile but she was feeling to overwhelmed.

"Why did you do this? When did you do this?" She finally managed to ask.

"After you told me you were pregnant, I felt bad about the way I treated you out there in the ring, so I thought this might make you feel a little bit better." Hunter said with a slight blush tingeing his cheeks.

"It's amazing." Stephanie assured him as she walked fully into the room. "I really don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything." Hunter said shrugging his shoulders as if it were no big deal.

"How come you didn't get rid of this after we divorced?" Stephanie asked him really confused.

"For some reason every time that I tried, I couldn't do it." He admitted slowly as he bowed his head to look at the fluffy carpeting.

* * *

He could tell that she was impressed by what she was looking at but for some reason it didn't give him the satisfaction he thought it might. Hunter continued to study the carpeting patterns as he heard her move about the room he had hoped would be filled one day. He knew she was occasionally glancing back at him because he could feel her steady gaze boring into him but he ignored it.

* * *

Stephanie knew that showing her this must have been hard for him. She looked around at everything in there and realized it was exactly how she had described it. She felt the tears running down her cheeks and thought about stopping them but for some reason she was unable to. She looked back at Hunter and saw he was still staring at the carpet beneath his feet. She shook her head and just stood there staring at him, waiting for him to look back up at her and say something to her.

* * *

He looked at all the papers that were sitting on the table in front of him. Vince McMahon didn't like being defied the way his daughter was defying him at this very moment. She had taken off to go and be with her ex-husband, thinking he would keep her safe, but little did she know that being around him would only make her more vulnerable. He sighed when he heard his door open and smirked when he saw the men standing in front of him. He had purposefully gone out looking for two new wrestlers to come into the business. He knew they would be looking for any opportunity to prove themselves and having them take on this job would only make it easier for Vince McMahon.

* * *

He was watching the house, waiting for an opportunity to strike. He knew that Stephanie and Hunter would be letting their guard down soon enough; no one could keep it up for twenty-four hours. He smirked as he looked down at the equipment he had been supplied for this particular mission. He knew that Vince McMahon probably was getting ready to take care of his daughter himself; he would wonder who had handled to job before him. He had nothing to do with the McMahon family, this was purely business. His boss would give him a promotion and maybe even a raise when this job was over.

* * *

Stephanie gave up on waiting for Hunter to speak and instead walked over to the window. She glanced outside and shivered as a cold chill ran over her. Something was off but she couldn't place her finger on what it was. She glanced up and down the street, as far as she could see from her vantage point and didn't see anything.

"What's wrong?" Hunter asked coming up behind her.

Stephanie jumped and nearly smacked Hunter across the face as she turned towards him sharply. She quickly lowered her hand when she realized where it was and what she was about to do. "You scared me." She said as she put her hand over her racing heart, willing it to slow back to it's steady beat.

"Sorry." Hunter said with a frown as he looked out the window. "What were you looking at?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I just have this bad feeling that someone is out there somewhere." Stephanie said slowly.

* * *

Hunter looked outside again and then turned back to her with an arched eyebrow. He shook his head slowly and then turned his attention back to the room. He sighed and grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the room, locking it behind them when they were out of it. He tucked the key into his pocket and ushered her back to the lunch table and took a seat.

"Why did you do that?" Stephanie asked greatly confused.

"Because that room is sacred." Hunter whispered. "I think we should just leave it alone."

"Are you going to keep that door locked for the rest of your life?" Stephanie asked pointedly as she picked at the food still sitting on her plate.

"I was thinking about it." Hunter said shrugging her shoulders.

"So what's going to happen when you get remarried someday? Do you really think your future wife is going to like a secret room that you won't let her see?" Stephanie asked, although the thought of him married to someone else really bothered her.

"I have no intention of getting married to anyone at the moment." Hunter said shrugging again.

"So what you plan to be alone for the rest of your life?" Stephanie asked a little pleased and a little hurt.

"Nah, I date around." Hunter said candidly, secretly watching her reaction so he could see what she was thinking. When he saw the pain in her eyes he had his answer. She was still in love with him almost as much as he was with her. He felt the pleasure seep into him as he sat back in his chair and studied her profile since she was staring at the food on her plate.

"Oh." She said simply.

"Does that bother you?" Hunter asked her suddenly.

"What?" Stephanie asked as her head snapped up and she could see him staring at her.

"Does it bother you that I date other women?" Hunter asked simply.

"It's none of my business." Stephanie said softly.

"Do you want it to be?" Hunter asked her pointedly.

Stephanie wasn't sure how to answer that question.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

He was getting angry at the long wait. He picked up the phone and called his field man to get an update. He had to laugh when he learned of what he was telling him. So Stephanie had run home to her ex hubby had she. Well that was all right by him, he could make sure that both of them were taken out if need be. He laughed as he placed the receiver back into the cradle and waited patiently for a new update whenever it would come.

* * *

Stephanie just continued to stare at Hunter. She knew how she wanted to answer the question but she wasn't sure how she should answer it. She sighed as she leaned back in the chair she was sitting in to wait and see what he would say.

"Stephanie, I want an honest answer from you." Hunter said softly.

"I don't know if I can answer that question honestly right now." Stephanie whispered. "With everything going on, I can only put you in danger."

"Stephanie, I promise I'm a big boy. I just want to know what's going on with you. Would it bother you if I married someone else? Do you still love me?" Hunter asked reaching across the table to place his hands over hers.

"I can't answer that." Stephanie said pulling her hands away and getting up from the table. She grabbed her plate and scurried towards the kitchen sink. She needed some time away from him because if she stayed any closer she was going to blab everything.

* * *

He was getting luckier every minute. He watched as Stephanie walked onto the front porch. He felt like laughing as she settled onto the porch swing to quietly swing by herself. He could tell by the look on her face that she had something serious to think about.

* * *

Hunter stood in the living room, glancing out through the window. Stephanie was sitting with her head down on the porch swing she had insisted they buy for the house. He laughed as he remembered that day so well. He remembered everything about their time together. What he remembered the most was how much he loved her and how much he still did. He closed the curtain and walked over to the couch to take a seat. He wasn't going to press her to open up to him unless she was willing to.

* * *

Stephanie silently swung back and forth on the swing. She knew that Hunter was checking on her every once and while and she was grateful. A part of her could only hope that there was a chance for them to get back together, but another part knew that their history together was probably causing major turmoil and would continue to do so. She felt a pair of eyes on her but they weren't Hunters, she always knew when it was his gaze that had settled on her. She swung her gaze up and glanced up and down the street but nothing really stood out. There were a few cars and people moving in and out of their houses taking groceries into their houses. She smiled as she thought about the times she and Hunter had worked together to do the same thing.

* * *

Vince laughed as he set aside the papers he was looking over. He noticed Lita and Edge standing in the doorway looking at him with caution. He motioned for them to come fully inside and take a seat opposite him.

"How are you two doing?" Vince asked with genuine interest.

"Fine Mr. McMahon." Edge answered for the both of them.

"I have a job for the two of you." Vince said simply, getting right to the point. "I am having some problems with Stephanie, problems I need you two to take care of. I have other wrestlers getting involved, including new ones no one knows about, but I want you on the team to get rid of my headaches."

* * *

He was already forming the plan in his mind. He was going to strike while the two of them slept tonight. He was going to attack them in their sleep. When they woke up, if they woke up, the next morning they wouldn't know what hit them.

* * *

Stephanie walked back into the house, her decision firmly in place. She knew what she needed to say to Hunter and she was going to say it before she lost her nerve. She saw him sitting on the couch watching television and almost lost her nerve despite what she kept telling herself.

"Hunter, we need to talk." She said softly.

"All right." He said turning the TV off and looking at her.

"I do love you and I think a part of me will always love you." Stephanie admitted biting her lower lip. "But I am not sure that that is enough for anything anymore. We are two different people."

"Love is always enough." Hunter said simply as he jumped to his feet.

"No it's not." Stephanie said with a sigh.

* * *

Hunter stared at her for a moment before walking briskly over to her. He could see the surprise on her face and knew she was curious about what he was going to do. Smirking he grabbed her by the waist and brought her roughly again his chest. He leaned down and kissed her with everything that he was feeling, everything that was pent up inside of him. He felt her resistance at first but she gave in eventually, like he knew that she would.

* * *

Stephanie felt frozen, unsure of how to react about what was going on. Hunter was kissing her at this very moment and she was liking it. This wasn't possible, she was supposed to be telling him it wasn't going to work. He was supposed to be looking the other way, they were supposed to move on with their lives. She knew there was no fighting it and no matter what she did she could only kiss him back with everything she had in her, all of her pent up feelings.

* * *

He was watching through the window. Well this was an interesting development. He smirked as a new plan formed in his mind, eliminating the one he had just formed moments earlier. 


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Stephanie sat in the guest bedroom contemplating what had happened moments earlier between herself and Hunter. She knew that she was always going to have strong feelings for him but a part of her also knew that she couldn't act on those feelings, not until this situation was resolved. She sighed as she picked up her suitcase that she had recently unpacked and set it on the bed. She walked over to the dresser and opened the first drawer. Staying with Hunter would only be playing with fire and Stephanie had no intentions on getting burned this time.

* * *

Hunter had had enough. Ever since they had kissed Stephanie had been avoiding him and he was going to make sure that she understood that he was not going to take that. He walked into the guest room without knocking and noticed the open suitcase on the bed. Stephanie must have been in the bathroom packing in there because she wasn't in the room. Sighing he walked over and dumped everything out of the suitcase and then sat on the bed. This time he wasn't going to just let her leave.

* * *

Stephanie walked back into the guest room with her bathroom stuff and noticed the mess everywhere. She felt her eyes widen as she saw Hunter sitting on her bed staring at her with an angry look.

"Why did you do that?" Stephanie asked mystified.

"Did you really think I was just going to sit by and let you walk out?" Hunter asked her seriously. "Let's face it Steph, there is something going on between us that we need to figure out."

"No there isn't" Stephanie denied, lying through her teeth.

"You were never a really good liar Steph." Hunter said as he sighed and shook his head at her.

"Look right now isn't the best time to start any type of relationship and you know it." Stephanie said with a groan as she walked over to the bed and started picked things up and putting them back in the suitcase.

* * *

Hunter watched her for a minute before he picked up the suitcase and dumped it again with a smirk on his face. He could tell that it was driving her nuts and making her angry because she blew out a frustrated breath and placed her hands on her hips and stomping her feet angrily. She turned and glared at him through narrowed slits in her eyes and bit her bottom lip. He couldn't resist as he grabbed her and yanked her into his arms. He smiled when he heard her startled gasp and lowered his mouth to hers.

* * *

Stephanie tried to push away from him but it was no use. She knew the moment his lips had touched hers that it was no use. She loved him and every time they kissed she felt something stir deep within her. As she leaned into him she could feel him sigh against her lips and she knew that he had been thinking she was going to pull away from him. She thought about shaking her head but decided against it almost as soon as she thought of it.

* * *

Hunter couldn't believe that she was really kissing him back. He had been so sure that she was going to push him away that he had been preparing to grip her even tighter. When he finally broke the kiss he could see a flash of emotions cross her face as she stared dazed and confused at him. He wanted to kiss her again but he had a feeling that this time she would probably smack him. So instead he sat down the bed beside the empty suitcase and waited for her to yell.

Stephanie wasn't sure what she wanted to do at this point. She wanted to smack him but at the same time she wanted to kiss him. Something was stirring deep within her and she wasn't all that sure what she wanted to do about it.

* * *

He was waiting patiently for the time when he could strike. As he laid out his plans within his mind he mapped out exactly where he would hurt them the most. He nearly groaned when he saw a car pull into the driveway and watched as Linda McMahon climbed out and walked to the door. He had a feeling that hurting Linda would be bad for his career. He sighed, leaning into the drivers seat of his car, hoping that Linda would leave soon enough so that he could continue with his plan, otherwise he would be the one leaving.

* * *

Stephanie heard the doorbell ring and nearly sighed with relief. Even though this wasn't her house she practically ran to the door to answer it, giving her some time to get over what had just happened. When she flung the door open her eyes went wide with shock at the sight of her mother standing there with an angry scowl on her face. Stephanie gulped and waited for her mother to start yelling.

" Stephanie pack your stuff, your coming home with me." Linda said simply stepping inside.

"No she isn't." Hunter said simply stepping out of the room.

"She's my daughter." Linda said with an angry look towards Hunter.

"She may be your daughter but she's my wife." Hunter said simply, waiting for that to sink in.

"Not anymore, you two are divorced, or did you forget that you insisted on that a long time ago." Linda said with a smirk on her face.

Hunter shrugged his shoulders and left the room to grab something out of his study. When he returned he tossed the papers on the table next to where Linda and Stephanie were standing and nodded towards them. He smirked a little as Linda started reading and then gasped. He had to love the way this was playing out in his favor.

Stephanie could tell something was wrong by the look on her mothers face. She grabbed the papers from her and started reading herself before he gaze shifted towards Hunter. She felt heat crawl into her face as anger seeped in and then surprise and shock took over.

"Were still married." Were the only words uttered in the air.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"I couldn't sign the paper's Steph." Hunter said honestly.

"Why didn't you tell me this? All this time I thought I was single and the truth is that you never signed the paperwork, that you contested the divorce and won? Why didn't my attorney tell me this?" Stephanie asked confused.

"Because I paid him big bucks not to. The truth is Stephanie, you and I were meant to be together and as mad as I was at you for what happened then, I couldn't just let you go like that."

"I never lied to you." Stephanie said taking deep breaths.

"Stephanie, it's irrelevant at this point. I know why you pretended to be pregnant…" Hunter started but was interrupted.

"No you don't understand, I never pretended, I was pregnant Hunter." Stephanie said taking a deep breath.

"What?" Hunter asked, his eyes going wide.

"I was pregnant." Stephanie repeated slowly.

"What happened?" Hunter asked simply.

"When you were out with your injury, dad had me work some behind the scenes thing. While I was working it he had planned this big attack to get even with me for something. I took a heavy beating and I lost the baby. I was so ashamed that I had even allowed the chance for that to happen that I didn't tell you." Stephanie said looking at the ground.

"Stephanie why didn't you tell me?" Linda asked her daughter with a shocked gaze.

"Because I thought you would be ashamed of me for what I did." Stephanie said still looking down.

"I think you two need to talk." Linda said simply as she turned around and walked out the door.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hunter stared at Stephanie with a confused look on his face. He wasn't all that sure what he should think about what she told him but he was sure that he was going to be there for her no matter what. He could already tell that she was afraid of his reaction and he didn't know how he was going to comfort her.

"So you hid what happened? You went through all of that without me?" Hunter asked softly.

"You were still recovering from that injury, there was no way that I could add to your problems." Stephanie cried as she snapped her head up. "Hunter I had already told me dad about the baby so that he wouldn't send me to the ring. I thought that by telling him it would mean that the baby would be safe, that there would be no problems. I guess I forgot how ruthless and cruel he could be."

"Stephanie it's not your fault what happened." Hunter said feeling his anger rise at hearing that Vince knew Stephanie was pregnant and still put her through all of that. "Look we are going to deal with that sperm donor of a father of yours when the times right."

"Hunter there is nothing that you can do to him." Stephanie whispered.

"Wanna make a bet? I think I have a phone call to make. Just wait a few minutes, then you and I are going out tonight." Hunter said with a smile.

Hunter walked away and headed towards his office. He had a feeling he knew what Vince's worst nightmare would be and he knew exactly how to make it come true. He felt the smile forming on his face as he picked up the phone and made his telephone call.

"Hey buddy long time no talk." Hunter said when his 'friend' answered the phone.

"Yeah what's up?" Came the reply.

"I was thinking, maybe it's time to piss the boss off again, you game?" Hunter asked simply.

"Always, but why now?" Came the suspicious question.

"I just found out that Vince caused my wife to lose our kid. I was to get even and I am gonna do that anyway that I possibly can." Hunter answered honestly.

"Well you know I am always game to piss off the McMahon's. So Stephanie isn't a McMahon anymore?" Came the next question.

"No she's a Levesque." Hunter said with a grin. "Always has been."

"Works for me."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stephanie sat staring at the paper's in her hand. She read them over and over again trying to figure things out but the more she read the bigger her headache seemed to be getting. Slowly she placed the paper's back on the table and walked towards the spare room. She bit her bottom lip nervously as she tried to figure out whether or not Hunter was going to want them to sleep in the same bed again, now that she officially knew they were still married.

"You know if you keep biting your lip like that you are going to make it bleed." Hunter said causing Stephanie to jump.

"Why do you always insist on sneaking up on me?" Stephanie asked as her hand flew to her chest.

"Sorry didn't mean to scare you." Hunter said with a sheepish look.

"It's all right. So you wanna tell me what your plan is for me father?" Stephanie asked him crossing her arms in front of her.

"I would but I can't. It's not completely worked out or finished but I can assure you that by the time I'm finished your dad is going to be begging you for forgiveness and for you to try and stop me." Hunter said with an evil grin.

Stephanie just laughed and shook her head, wincing in pain as she remembered her old injuries that were still healing. "Why do I have a feeling I myself might be a little freaked by the whole thing."

"You, nah, you might actually enjoy it." Hunter said with a grin.

"As long as you aren't trying to bring Chyna back." Stephanie said seriously.

"No way would I ever do that." Hunter said with a sigh as he remembered a time when he had attempted that and it had only failed him in the end.

Stephanie could only stare at her husband and wonder what he was up to. She had a feeling that whatever it was, it was going to be huge.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Smackdown two weeks later…

Hunter paced back and forth in the hidden area that he had designated to meet with his 'friend'. They had been talking on and off for the past two weeks and everything was all set up. They knew exactly what they were going to do and at what moment. Now it was just a matter of getting everything together at the arena. Hunter had left Stephanie lying down in his dressing room since she no longer had an office. Vince had announced that since she had been gone for so long she no longer could retain her position. Hunter announced she would stay with him because they were married in retaliation.

It had been announced that Smackdown and RAW would no longer be just separate shows but that all the wrestlers were welcome on both shows. Vince had Sable running Smackdown since Stephanie's contract made it clear that she couldn't be fired but she could be demoted. It was driving her nuts to have to take orders from that woman.

"Hunter, I was thinking that maybe we shouldn't be sharing a dressing room. I mean nobody knows that we are married still, and as it pertains to the show we are a divorced couple who hate each other." Stephanie said suddenly.

"Forget it. I'll announced to the world that we are still married if that's what you want but you are staying with me. Steph I don't think I could handle something bad happening to you. By bad I mean something that could take you away from me or make sure that you aren't able to do the things you love." Hunter said crossing his arms in front of him.

"All right." Stephanie agreed reluctantly.

* * *

The plan was all set up and ready to go into action. The things that were scripted paled in comparison to the planned out of script action. Vince laughed as he looked at the wrestlers that were gathered in the room. Among them was Test who was looking for revenge based on the humiliation he suffered when he attempted to marry Stephanie. Test wanted not only a piece of Triple H but he wanted to make Stephanie hurt the way that he had been hurting not long ago. The pain was still Raw for him and it seemed only fair that the pain become raw for them.

* * *

Triple H smiled as he shook hands with some old friends. They were horrified to learn of Jesse James and X-pac's betrayal, even to learn of Chyna's was hard on them. But they vowed to get revenge and take out anyone who decided to stand in their way. They nodded when Hunter informed them of Brock Lesner's help and what he thought would be best in making sure this guy could get revenge to.

Stephanie nervously walked out to the ring. She wasn't sure what was going on but Hunter had told her to trust him so she was. She slowly climbed into the ring amid the cheers and screams from the fans. She grabbed a microphone and smiled at the audience, hoping that what she was about to say would be welcomed.

"Ladies and gentlemen I have an announcement to make. Actually I have two announcements to make. The first one being that I'm married." Stephanie said with a smile. She heard the crowd go silent, as if not sure how to take the news or unsure of who she could have married. "So without further delay I would like to introduce my husband to all of you. Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome my husband, The Game, Triple H." Stephanie said into the microphone and listened as the crowd screamed.

Hunter's music hit and he walked down to the ring, listening as the crowd welcomed him. He had seen the stunned look on the faces of the wrestlers that were near him in the back and he just felt like laughing in their faces.

"Thank's baby." Hunter said kissing Stephanie, basically laying his claim on his wife.

* * *

Hunter held the microphone and waited for the cheers to die down before he lifted it to his lips and began to speak. "I know all of you are wondering how we are going to deal with the betrayal of some of my friends. Well that's actually quite simple. The best way to deal with old friends screwing up is to bring back some more old friends to fight back. So without further delay I would like to introduce you to some friends of mine. I'm sure you all remember my friend Bad Ass Billy Gunn." Hunter waited as people cheered and Billy came down to his old music.

As Billy entered the ring, they hugged and Billy even hugged a shocked Stephanie who was still in the dark. "Great to see you again Steph."

"You to." She whispered.

"But I'm not finished. You see we decided to reform an old group, even without some of the original members, just adding new additions like Stephanie here. So please welcome a new member to Degeneration X, yes we are back people, Brock Lesner." Hunter said with a smirk as he watched Brock come down. "Also a new member The Animal Batista." Hunter watched as Batista came down. Batista had asked Hunter for this opportunity after learning about Rick and Randy betraying Hunter, something many people still don't know about.

As everyone was gathered in the ring, all wearing DX shirts, including Stephanie who had pulled a shirt on over her blouse. The crowd watched anxiously hoping to see if there was more to the story or if the one person they were all hoping to come back, would.

"And of course it wouldn't be DX without the return of my best buddy, and fellow founder, The Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels!" Hunter basically screamed into the mike as the crowd erupted and Shawn came out wearing DX gear. The group was complete and Vince's worst nightmare had been realized, DX was back.

"Listen up ladies and gentlemen because we've got something to say. Vince, for messing with two member's of DX, Jesse and Pac for turning your back on your friends, and for every little wuss back there who wants to take Vince's side, we got two words for ya, "Suck It!" The group shouted with the crowd joining. DX's old theme song started playing and the group started to make their way back stage. Now everything was ready for the big fight against Vince McMahon.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Stephanie was laughing as the group of men were talking at once about the crowds excitement at the return of DX. It was hilarious to watch how a group of men could take such pleasure in the happiness of people they didn't even know. They all went silent as a knock on the door was finally heard and everyone turned their attention to the door. Stephanie being the closest to the door walked slowly over to it and turned the knob. She saw her father standing there and immediately stepped back. She felt Hunter's hand on her shoulder and turned to face him.

"Did you get lost on your way to a locker room or something Vince?" Billy asked mockingly.

"Who hired you people back?" Vince asked furiously.

"Linda." Shawn said with a smirk on his face.

"Look Vince I think you should leave. Nobody wants you around here." Stephanie said as she gripped Hunter's hand tightly.

"Who cares what you think." Sable said walking into the room. "After all I am the one in charge of Smackdown."

"But Linda can fire you if she wants to." Billy pointed out with a smirk.

"You know what I think, I think tonight it should be Triple H, Stephanie, Billy and Shawn versus Randy, Ric, Undertaker and Albert." Sable said sadistically.

"Steph isn't cleared for in the ring action." Hunter protested feeling his blood boil.

"Oh but she is. Oh and gentlemen the stipulation of the match is that it can't be over until Stephanie wrestles." Sable said with a smirk on her face.

After the two monsters had left Stephanie felt her knees start to buckle and she started to collapse. She felt Hunter catch her and carry her over to the couch where he sat down and held her on his lap. He looked at everyone gathered in the room with rage contorting his face. He saw his feelings mirrored on the faces of everyone in the room, except Stephanie's whose face was pale and filled with fear.

"They didn't even place a woman in the match on the opposite team." Batista said angrily.

"Well I say we go down there as back up. We take distract the ref, take the guy out and have Steph do a quick leg drop on the guy, that's wrestling. She can then tag out or pin depending on the status of the guy, that would mean she had wrestled and there is nothing Sable can say about it." Brock said thinking fast.

"Except knowing her and my dad something else will be stipulated before the match even begins." Stephanie said softly as she clung to her husband. "He is doing this on purpose just like he did when I was pregnant."

"Pregnant? When were you pregnant? I thought that was a lie." Billy said confused.

"I wasn't lying at first. I was pregnant but Hunter was out with his injury and I had told dad so that he would keep me away from the ring. Dad set up a back stage attack and I miscarried. I couldn't tell Hunter the truth so I let everyone believe I had lied. The ultrasound picture really was of our baby. I still have it." Stephanie admitted to everyone else in the room.

"So that sick son of a bitch killed his own grandkid?" Shawn asked thinking of his own kid. "As a dad I can only imagine, no wait I can't imagine, the pain you must be feeling at losing a kid."

"Do you see why it's so important that I get even with him now?" Hunter whispered.

"He hurt your family." Batista said silently.

"My wife, my child, he hurt my entire life. I think it's time that we make Vince feel the pain of everyone's life he has ruined." Hunter said evenly.

"I agree. In case you forgot I was the one who had to deal with his evil." Stephanie said slowly. "But you have to remember what happened to the baby, that was my fault Hunter."

"No it wasn't. The sooner you start to admit that your father was responsible for what happened to the baby, the better." Shawn butted in already seeing the rage building on Hunter's face. The fact that Stephanie blamed herself for what happened only seemed to make him madder.

"Stephanie I love you so much, you're my wife and the future mother of my children, I want you to finally see that what happened wasn't your fault. I'm not going to argue with you about this here right now."

* * *

Everyone was getting nervous as the time for the match started drawing closer and closer. They weren't sure how the plan was going to be executed but they knew they had to find a way to keep Stephanie safe and end the match as quickly as possible. Batista and Brock were wearing regular clothes and would stay hidden in the back area, to make it look like DX thought they could handle this match without outside interference. This way they could at least have a measure of hope that Sable wouldn't kick them away from ringside and end any chance they had of those two making sure that one of the other team members was down for Stephanie. Hunter watched as Stephanie pulled on the last of her pads and shook his head, thinking about the fear she must be feeling going into this match. 

"It's going to be all right Steph." Hunter said as he walked over to her.

"I wish I could believe that." She whispered back shaking her head.

DX gathered as a force outside the locker room door and everyone settled down, grim faces and all, and headed towards the ring. There would be no fun mocking tonight, they had to make everyone believe they were worried about Stephanie, when the truth of the matter was that they were confident they could protect her. When it came down to it, any one of those guys was willing to step in and risk their own health to protect hers.

* * *

Now the big problem for one of the teams was there was a mole inside their own organization. This mole was set against the teams they were 'with' winning and they were willing to do anything to make sure they lost. 


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Stephanie waited patiently for everyone to figure out who was going to enter the ring first. Everyone had on some type of DX gear, whether it was a shirt or just pants that marked them as a degeneration-x member. Stephanie was wearing pads marked with DX and a tank top that had Hunter's face on it. She smiled as she realized that for the first time she felt a little bit safer and more like a married woman. She glanced over and saw Shawn and Hunter discussing something on the serious side. It was then that she looked at the monitor and saw X-pac and Road Dogg had joined, Taker, Albert Flair and Randy at ring side. She gulped as she realized the full potential that this had on the plan they had all formed. She was in big trouble and she knew it.

DX's music hit on cue and the group walked down to the ring, minus Brock and Batista. Stephanie felt Hunter's intense grip on her hand and had to smile at the knowledge that no matter what he was going to keep her as safe as he possibly could keep her. She bit her bottom lip nervously and waited to see what everyone was going to do about the group standing in front of them.

* * *

He watched as both teams stood in the ring, one of the unknowing that he was even against them and one of them still unsure if he was with them. He wanted to laugh out loud but because of the people who were around him that just wasn't plausible at the time. He glanced down at the shirt he was wearing and felt sick to his stomach, this wasn't his normal gear. He watched as the members in the ring tried to figure out what they were going to do about Stephanie and how they were going to make this match easier on her. He really wanted to laugh at the knowledge that Hunter was going to have to let his wife wrestle in the ring with some monsters in the WWE.

* * *

The refree called for the bell and Shawn agreed to start the match against Orton. Orton was ruthless and continuously went to work on Shawn's lower back. Shawn fought back hard and managed to escape a couple of RKO attempts but in the end he had to tag out. Shawn tagged in Billy and the match was beginning to look brighter for DX as Billy got Orton down and the ref went for the count.

"1…2…" Orton kicked out and Billy starts to get frustrated. Billy suddenly remembers the stipulation of the match and nods his head as he remembers even if he had gotten a pin the match wouldn't have ended because Steph hadn't entered the ring. Billy started right fisting Orton and attempting a major injury so that he could get Stephanie into the ring. He glanced behind him just in time to see X-pac grab Stephanie around the ankles and lightly yank on her. Billy frowned but the distraction worked as Orton got the tag out to Albert.

Hunter jumped off the edge of the apron and attempted to take out X-pac. He was pissed off as he noticed Stephanie slowly getting to her feet and shaking her head, attempting to clear the blurriness that had appeared. Hunter slammed X-pac into the steel steps and felt satisfaction when he noticed he wasn't getting back up.

Billy felt pain from every section of his body as he continuously got slammed by Albert. Billy heard Stephanie distracting the ref and that gave him enough time to deliver a low blow. He watched Albert make a face and grab for the gonads and laughed lowly as he crawled over and tagged in Hunter.

Hunter smirked as he entered the ring and stared at the wrestler who had been doing major damage to Stephanie for so long. With a ton of hatred rolling through his blood Hunter started his major assault on the huge superstar. He watched as Albert finally went down and continued his main assault. As he ran to sling shot himself off the ropes he felt someone grab his ankles and yank him out of the ring. When he pulled himself to his feet he looked into the eyes of Vince McMahon and felt his blood going hotter than ever. He thought about the child he would have had and the pain Stephanie had been going through and decided to make Vince pay at that moment.

Stephanie jumped off the ring apron and ran to the other side in time to stop Sable from smacking Hunter with a chair. Stephanie kicked Sable in her midsection and then slammed the blonde woman into the announce table. She looked back and motioned for Hunter to enter the ring, noticing the referee doing a count. Hunter entered the ring and immediately felt his back being pounded on.

The match seemed to be leaning towards the losing side for DX. He watched from his position, waiting for the right moment to reveal who he was. He watched as the signal was given for team backup and he laughed inside his own head. Soon the world would know who he was and who he really worked for.

Brock and Batista were ring side at that moment, taking care of business. Batista slowly slid into the ring as Stephanie distracted the referee as the legal person who had been tagged in. Hunter had mistakenly made the tag and Batista had made the choice to take over. Batista quickly took out Flair and slid out of the ring as Stephanie ran over and did her leg drop. She quickly went for the cover and the referee started the pin count.

"1…2…" Flair's shoulder popped off the mat and Stephanie did a few kicks to the midsection for good measure before tagging Shawn back into the ring.

It was time, the moment nobody knew was going to happen. He entered the ring when the ref wasn't looking and slammed the opponent in the head with the chair. He watched as his real team members got the pin and the win and looked at the shocked faces of those who thought he was on their side. All had been revealed.


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

The crowd was silent, waiting to see what the reaction was going to be to what had just occurred. A mole had been revealed but it wasn't who anyone thought. Smirking Road Dogg Jesse James shook hands with his DX winning counterparts and laughed at the look of shock on Vince MCMahon's face.

Jesse grabbed a microphone and stared right at the man he hated. "Anyone who would willingly hurt his own kid isn't good enough to even be in the same room with D-Generation X! Get this Vince, Randy, Fair, Albert, Slutty Sable, and my old friend X-pac, DX is going to make you all wish you had never messed with us!"

DX's music hit as everyone gathered in a line and did the signature genture with the pyro going off. The look of shock and disgust that crossed the faces of their opponents said it all. Stephanie looked from her husband and to his old friend with an arched brow. She remembered when Jesse had entered her hospital room, attempting to hurt her and she realized that he had every chance to hurt her but never did it, even before Hunter arrived.

"You were never going to take me out were you?" Stephanie whispered softly.

"Nah, Steph you were always safe. But there is something you should all know." He said a little louder. "Vince contracted outside of the WWE for someone to take out Hunter and Stephanie. It's no longer about business, this guy is supposed to do it when you aren't even at work."

DX shared a long look between the group before the exited the ring with a silence brooding between them. Nobody knew how to take the news that Jesse had just shared with them and at the moment it didn't seem like even Jesse knew what to say. As they headed towards the DX locker room, Stephanie kept her pace slower than the group, afraid that she had put them all in danger because of something she did to her father. Biting her lower lip her attention wasn't on anyone or anything in particular which was why Edge managed to come out of nowhere and slam a chair into her head without anyone being able to stop him.

* * *

Hunter heard someone's head being bashed by a chair and assumed that Vince was getting even with Jesse. He stopped walking with the rest of the group and they all shared a look before turning around. Their eyes all widened when they saw Stephanie lying on the floor with a steel chair next to her head.

"Son of a…" Hunter trailed off as he rushed to her side and knelt next to her. He saw the bruise forming on her skin already and winced for her. "Steph baby, I need you to wake up." Hunter whispered stroking her hair back out of her face.

"Damn whoever hit her, hit her hard. Go get the trainer." Shawn ordered Jesse who quickly nodded and headed towards the show doctor's room.

"I wanna look at the tapes, some camera around here had to catch who did it." Hunter growled frustrated as he continued to try and wake Stephanie up but she was out cold.

The doctor rushed forward with his gear and motioned for them to get Hunter out of the way. After a bit of a struggle the rest of DX managed to pull Hunter away from his unconscious wife and let the doctor work his magic over her unconscious form.

"It looks like she just kind of passed out, probably from fear or shock but I don't think the chair hit her that hard." The doctor said as he felt along her head for any sign of a lump. He pulled some smelling salts out of his bag and broke them before waving them under her nose. She scrunched it up and immediately came to.

"What…" She started before she winced.

"Relax I don't want anything to happen again." Hunter ordered from where he was standing.

"Ms. McMahon…" the doctor started.

"Levesque." Hunter inserted with a growl.

"For the shows purposes it's not Levesque." Shawn whispered to his friend. "You're not even a Levesque."

"I know but…" Hunter started before he nodded his head.

"Ms. McMahon," the doctor continued, "I don't think the chair hit you to hard, it seems you just leaned your body out the way, which is probably a good thing considering you are still recovering from some old injuries. I would suggest that if you don't need to be here, go back to the hotel and rest." The doctor turned to Hunter with a timid smile. "Watch her closely. Try and wake her up now and then just to be on the safe side. If you have any trouble waking her up then call 911 and get her to a hospital immediately. I'll give you some smelling salts just to be on the safe side and those might be of some help to you as well."

"Thanks." Hunter nodded with a worried glance at his wife.

* * *

That night Hunter kept the television on and sat holding Stephanie in his arms. He would wake her up every couple of hours, as much as she hated that and groaned and that she was going to look like a mess the next day. Hunter just shook his head and stroked her hair back as he turned the channel again. Stephanie could never look anything but beautiful to him but he wasn't going to say that out loud when she was so crabby from lack of sleep.

He glanced at the clock again and winced as he realized it was once again time to wake his beautiful girl up.

"Steph, baby, wake up." He whispered lightly shaking her.

"Huh, what?" She asked waking up.

"It's time to get up." Hunter said kissing the side of her head.

"This sucks. See I'm awake and fine." She said opening her eyes and looking at him. "Can I sleep now?"

"Okay." He shrugged and flipped the channel again.

"Have you gotten any sleep?" She asked biting her lower lip.

"No but you're more important than sleep." Hunter admitted slowly.

"You need rest Paul." Stephanie said frowning.

"Stephanie don't you get it, I would rather be awake and make sure you're okay than sleep." He admitted softly.

"Then I am going to stay up with you." Stephanie said with a smirk. She leaned over and kissed her husband very deeply and passionately.

(A:N: I am sure you can guess how they spent the night right?)

The next morning the couple left the hotel to head to the next city but what they didn't know was that someone had their new plan in hand and it would only take time for it to play out. Could Steph and Hunter survive what was going to happen next?


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Stephanie was sitting in the lobby of the hotel waiting for Hunter who was checking them out when she saw John Cena walking towards her. She could tell by the look on his face that she wasn't going to like what he had to say. She bit her bottom lip and looked around for any sign of Hunter but he was still out of sight for the moment. She looked over at Jesse who was supposed to be watching out for her but was to busy flirting with some woman a few feet away.

"Is there something you needed?" Stephanie asked biting her lower lip nervously.

"Relax Stephanie; I'm not on your dad's side. Look I just wanted to say that I was sorry that I didn't give you a hand when you needed help. I guess a part of me just kind of was hoping it would all go away, but that was wrong of me." John said nervously as he glanced around to make sure no one else was nearby listening in. "I know that Hunter will most likely want to kill every wrestler for not backing you up and most of us deserve it, but most of all you deserve an apology."

"Jillian send you over?" Stephanie asked arching an eyebrow as she glanced at the newest diva to join the roster. Vince had decided to reward John by making Jillian his personal escort or valet whatever the proper term was for her.

"Jillian is really nervous about being a part of the WWE but more so now that she knows how your dad is with the other diva's. Sable really can't stand her and so she thinks she is going to end up on a hit list. Look if you could just tell your husband not to kill me until I can get Jillian some protection for when I am injured I'd appreciate it, she might really need it." John said finally getting to the point of his conversation.

"I have a better idea." Stephanie said as a new plan formulated. She smirked as John walked away from her confused, knowing she would have to talk to Hunter before spilling the beans to him.

* * *

Hunter could tell there was something on his wife's mind by the way she kept avoiding his gaze. They were all hanging out in the new city as DX in one of the member's hotel room. Hunter kept trying to catch Stephanie's eye but she was busily writing in a notebook and avoiding everyone's gaze. Finally she glanced up, biting her lower lip nervously as she slowly closed the notebook.

"I have an idea and I think it's something you all need to hear. I think we should vote on this as a group but it would be absolute revenge." Stephanie said slowly.

"All right let's hear it." Shawn said leaning back in his chair.

"I just want everyone to promise they will hear me out with no interruptions before making an comments. Even if you all absolutely hate the idea or whatever just wait until I finish speaking and make my point before jumping in, promise?" Stephanie asked shooting glances to everyone in the room.

"Promise." Everyone shouted as one, already trying to figure out what her plan might be.

"My dad hates two other wrestlers, and they are most likely going to become targets at some point for his wrath. I think we should make them 'secret' DX members. No one would know that they are part of this group and we could save them as our trump card for when we absolutely need to reveal it. The big problem is though if they need backup we are there for them." Stephanie said biting her lower lip.

"All right it sounds reasonable." Hunter said looking at everyone else in the room. "Who did you have in mind?"

"The new diva Jillian Hall and John Cena." Stephanie said slowly.

"Whoa wait a minute, Cena?" Shawn asked already knowing what would happen if Cena ever joined DX. Hunter and Cena hated each other and they would most likely never get along.

"Look I know some of you have personal issues with John." Stephanie said looking mainly at her husband who was throwing nasty glances in her direction. "But you have to admit he is an amazing wrestler and it's those personal issues that make this such a perfect idea. No one would ever think that we would have Cena joining DX and why would we even give a new diva the time of day right?"

"I hate to admit it but wifey has a point." Jesse butted in.

"I hate to be called that and next time that you call me wifey we have a problem." Stephanie gritted out through clenched teeth.

"All right everyone chill." Hunter said holding up his hand. He glanced at his wife and saw that she was really hopeful about this idea. He looked at the ground not wanting to look her in the eyes as he thought of all the things wrong with her idea and then he thought of all the things that could be right with her idea. He took a deep breath and just continued to think about it. Finally he shared a long glance with his best friend and long time tag partner Shawn and they both nodded their heads in understanding and silent communication.

"I say we put this to a vote between members." Shawn spoke up as he glanced around. "We let everyone have their say and then we vote by writing yes or no on a piece of paper and tallying it."

"Works for me." Jesse nodded and everyone agreed to do it that way.

The team went around in a circle, everyone weighing in on their opinion and the pro's and con's of Stephanie's idea. They really didn't have a problem with the new diva but the whole John Cena thing knowing how much Hunter hated him was what bugged the team the most. As everyone finished they wrote their decision on a piece of paper and handed them to Hunter who would read the votes and tally them for the final decision.

* * *

A:N: All right not one of my best chapters but hey there has to be a bad chapter every once in a while. It inspires the good ones right? Besides that just means that the next chapter has to have action in it since this one didn't.

So what do you think are Cena and Hall the new DX members or has Hunter's hatred for Cena tainted any chance for him to join?


	27. Chapter 27

Ch. 27

Stephanie and the rest of the team walked down the hall. Stephanie had made a private call to Jillian and John and informed them of her plan and what DX's decision had been. She grinned as she glanced at her husband who was still being completely protective.

"So what do you think Vince is going to try and pull tonight?" Stephanie asked Hunter with an arched brow.

"Does it really matter? No matter what he tries we are going to be ready for him." Shawn said from behind them. "Let's face it, one of Vince's worst fears has been realized, DX is back baby!"

"Haha, that's interesting." Stephanie started to respond but something else had caught her attention. She stopped dead in her tracks causing Shawn to run into her and Stephanie to turn around and smack him. "That hurt."

"Well you were the one who stopped suddenly." Shawn said rubbing his arm.

"Steph, what's wrong?" Hunter asked her with an arched brow.

"Look over there, what do you see?" Stephanie asked them crossing her arms in front of her.

"I see three diva's standing around in a circle." Hunter said looking at his wife as if she had lost her mind.

Stephanie rolled her eyes at her husband and walked away from the group and heading over towards the crowd. She parted them with a slight shove and her eyes widened as she saw Jillian Hall sitting on the ground in front of her bleeding from the head.

"Guys get over here." Stephanie called to them.

DX headed over towards her and their eyes all widened as they saw one of the people they had voted on earlier. Stephanie gave them all an I told you so look before she helped Jillian to her feet and with the group on full alert headed towards the trainers office.

"Who did this?" She asked the new diva.

"Sable helped but it was mostly a couple of knocks from Albert." Jillian whispered. "I don't know where Cena is, he's going to freak."

"Don't worry about him, we are going to take care of telling Cena but right now we need to get that head of yours looked at." Stephanie told her gently.

Stephanie could feel curious gazes on her as she kept a firm grip on the injured diva. She could tell that everyone was trying to figure out why DX would want to help out a new girl when they had enough things to worry about when it came to their own problems. Stephanie felt Hunter's hand on the small of her back as he guided them towards the trainers room. She knew he was acing overprotective again because something must have alerted him to a problem.

"What's wrong?" She asked her husband with a weary look.

"I just have this really bad feeling that someone is watching us and that they are going to try something funny." Hunter said shaking his head as he glanced around the room with small but focused looks.

Stephanie wanted to think her husband was acting paranoid but she could tell that he wasn't. Someone was planning something and there was no way of knowing who or when they would strike. Stephanie was getting more and more anxious as she stared at all the people milling about in the hallway. Any one of them could be secretly making plans to help her father take her out of the picture, maybe even permanently.

"Hunter who do you think it is?" She whispered anxiously.

"I don't have a clue Steph." Hunter answered honestly as he glanced at the sea of faces all about them. He couldn't put his finger on it but something just didn't feel right about this whole situation. He turned slightly to see DX trailing also looking weary. It would seem that they had the same feeling that he had and that made him more nervous than anything. "Keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary, if something feels really wrong let someone know right away. We don't want to get into a bad situation back here if we don't have to." Hunter informed the team behind him.

Everyone nodded their heads enthusiastically as their eyes searched for anything that might tip them off to whatever might be about to happen.

They made it to the trainers office without incident surpisingly and ran into Cena as he exited holding an ice pack to a lump on his head. His eyes widened as he noticed the blood trickling down Jillian's face and the fact that DX seemed to be on full alert.

"What happened to you?" Jillian asked him wearily.

"I got jumped as I entered the building, you?" He asked arching a brow.

"The same." Jillian said with a sigh.

"Why don't you come into the trainers room with us?" Stephanie suggest of Cena. "Hunter and I have something we want to talk to the both of you about and it would seem that now is the time to talk to you about it."

* * *

Vince was sitting in his locker room, his face turning a crimson red. Stephanie and Hunter had shown up in the building yet again. He didn't know what he had to do to make them stay away but there had to be something that he could do to keep them as far away from the arena as possible. He looked at Sable who was sitting in the corner filing her nails and then he looked at Albert who was glaring at the same television monitor that he had been watching. Albert was angry that Cena was able to walk out of trainers office at all.

"I could have sworn I made it so that he would need hospital treatment." Albert muttered disgusted.

"Apparently not. What I want to know is why Stephanie and Hunter want to talk to Cena and Jillian." Vince said with a curious glare.

* * *

Stephanie noted the curious glances from Cena and Jillian and smiled to put them at ease.

"We took a vote and DX decided we would like for you two to…" Stephanie started but trailed off when the door opened. She was getting annoyed now.


	28. Chapter 28

Ch. 28

Stephanie was getting annoyed at being interrupted and looked up to see Jesse standing there with a concerned look on his face. Steph could tell from the look that the group was upset about something and that they needed Hunter's help.

"You better see what this is about." Stephanie whispered to her husband.

"I don't want to leave you." Hunter said protesting just by the fact that the look on his friends face made it clear that there was something really wrong.

"You don't have much of a choice on the matter." Stephanie said slowly shaking her head.

"I know, I guess you're right." Hunter said as he glanced grudgingly at his wife and walked out of the room with his teammate.

"As I was saying before, DX voted you into the group. We want the two of you are part of the team. We know that you have a lot going on and it would seem that we have the same enemies in common for whatever reason." Stephanie said slowly. "Now out of curiosity, what's going on between you two besides Cena thinking he needs to keep you safe because you're new?"

"Is it that obvious?" Cena asked with a wince.

"Just to someone who has seen you turn your back on other new diva's, I couldn't figure out why Jillian would be so special, so you two are a hot item are you?" Stephanie asked with a smirk. "It will be good to have another couple in the group, especially great to have another female on the team."

* * *

Vince was getting madder and madder by the second. Someone was messing with all his plans and he had a feeling he knew who it was. As much as he hated to admit it, it was kind of funny to know that there was so much hatred within one of the most powerful families. Vince felt pride in knowing that his kids were such fighters and he loved the fact that they were. He looked over at the members of his team and nodded to let them know that he knew that his plan was going to work wonders already.

* * *

Stephanie looked towards the door as she heard some sort of a fight going on outside of it. She and Jillian glanced at each other and then back to the door as Cena dropped the ice pack he was holding and opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. He slammed the door shut behind him and they could hear shouts and thumps like there was a huge battle going on in the hallway. Stephanie felt concern for her husband and friends growing inside of her and she started to rise from the chair she was sitting in. Only the feel of Jillian's hand on her arm as a warning stopped her from heading towards the door.

"Hunter will kill you if you walk out that door." Jillian whispered.

Stephanie knew she was right so she stayed put but the concern she was feeling was driving her nuts as she stared at the doorway.

* * *

DX, including it's newest member Cena, took a huge blow as they all went down. None of them had seen the attack coming as they were distracted by a devastating phone call that had come in. The team was lying, unmoving, in the hallway on the cold concrete floor blood flowing from different injuries. The camera crew finally happened upon the scene and caught sight of the team down and immediately started filming. The crowd caught sight of the favored team down and bleeding and almost immediately gasps and boo's filled the sold out arena.

* * *

Stephanie heard the boo's and gasps and knew that something really bad had to have happened and it was getting harder and harder not to open the door. She could tell that the medical crew was getting ready to go out there and make sure there were no major injuries. She glanced at her new friend and could see the worried look that crossed her face as well.

"How serious are you and John?" Stephanie asked her softly.

"Can you keep a secret?" Jillian asked with a small smile.

"Sure." Stephanie nodded her head as the medical crew opened the door and slipped outside closing the door firmly behind them.

"I think he might be the one. We can't tell him that, it might scare him off but I seriously think he might be it for me." Jillian said with a small smile.

"Well then I am happy for you. I can tell that you are concerned for him. Probably just as concerned as I am for Paul." Stephanie said slipping and calling Triple H by his real name instead of by his stage name.

"Well the really good news is that you know that he loves you more than anything in this world." Jillian said with a smile. "He has to really love you to be able to fight so hard for you after everything that happened between the two of you."

"I know." Stephanie said slowly.

* * *

Vince was laughing really hard at the sight on the television monitor in front of him. So someone had finally succeeded in surprising DX and taking them out. What was even better was that they also took out John Cena so there was no doubt in his mind that now he could get to his daughter and that other diva, Jillian. The two women were completely vulnerable and open to him now. He didn't care what their medical conditions were at this point.

* * *

He was sitting in the corner of the dressing room that had been turned into an office for Vince and the look on his face was actually kind of scary. The man was starting to fear for Vince's daughter's well being. This man might actually go so far over the edge that he could kill his own daughter. For once the man was seeing Vince for what he really was, a monster. What was even worse was at the moment he had an open shot to his probably severely frightened and worried daughter. Daddy's little princess was about to wish that she had more protection from her sick psycho father. 


	29. Chapter 29

Ch. 29

Stephanie was getting more and more concerned for the members of DX. She knew that she couldn't stay inside the medical room forever and she could tell that Jillian was thinking the same thing. It was well known that women tended to worry more and more about their loved ones, although in the case of Stephanie and Hunter he seemed more concerned about her than anyone had ever been. Stephanie sent a small glance in the direction of Jillian and knew that the woman was thinking about going out there to check on everyone just like she was.

The medical staff worked on the downed wrestlers out in the hallway without paying to much attention to anyone around them. No one seemed to noticed the wrestler that slipped into the medical room or why that person would need to go in there at the moment.

Stephanie looked up at the door as she heard it open and her eyes widened at who she saw standing there. She gulped and then looked at Jillian who had gone deadly pale. The two women were both no physical match for the wrestler and they both knew that they were going to be in for it.

"Look I don't know what my dad may have told you to do, but if you don't do it then I can probably get your career off to a great start." Stephanie babbled nervously.

"Relax Stephanie I'm not here to hurt you but to warn you. Stay away from your husband for a while, Vince has it out for him and it could mean the end of someone's life." The wrestler said with a slight nod of his head.

"I can't just abandon my husband." Stephanie said shaking her head. "He has been there for me and I seriously doubt he would be okay with me not being close to him."

"He's going to be on the injured list, like just about all of DX, including Cena. You and Jillian need to look for someone else to watch your back's for a while, and I suggest you look soon. Your dad isn't going to give you any time off, so you won't be allowed near Triple H."

* * *

Hunter was fuming as he sat against the wall. He was getting angrier and angrier with the training staff because they refused to allow him to move. They were concerned with the amount of swelling that was appearing on the side of his head which signified a lump and possible concussion. He kept glancing at the training door with a dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach. He knew something was wrong but he wasn't sure what it was. He shook his head slowly and tried to clear away the cobwebs and was even more annoyed when he saw the paramedics looking towards him. He knew they would order him to the hospital with a head injury but he wasn't going anywhere without Stephanie.

"My wife." Hunter said simply.

"Won't be able to join you because Vince has her in a wrestling match." The main trainer reluctantly admitted.

"Then I'm not going anywhere." Hunter said trying to get to his feet.

"You don't have a choice." Vince said walking up with a smirk. "A clause in your contract states that if the medical staff believes you need medical treatment then you will follow their orders."

"You can't order me to accept medical treatment." Hunter growled getting annoyed.

"You either follow orders or accept a suspension, either way you won't be here for Stephanie's match." Vince said. "The good thing is you won't be out to long on the medical choice, the suspension though could be indefinite."

* * *

Stephanie was staring at the wrestler, unsure whether to trust this man who she had seen more than once with her father or not. She glanced at Jillian and could tell the diva was also weary of the big wrestler standing in the room. Stephanie glanced at the door as it popped open and in walked her father.

"Well I see you met one of my enforcers, how unfortunate that he hasn't injured you yet." Vince sneered as he had his arm around Sable.

Stephanie wasn't sure how to react to that but she could see the expression on the wrestlers face change immediately to make it appear like that was his intent. She knew then that he was being honest and trying to help her, which put his career on the line. Stephanie vowed to find a way to repay him for risking so much.

"Well your enforcer was about to but you interrupted, how sweet of you to care." Stephanie said deciding to be helpful.

"Well then that changes everything." Sable snarled. "I can't wait to get my hands on you tonight. Stephanie, tonight in the ring, it will be you versus me and a partner of my choosing in a handicap match."

"Well bring it on." Stephanie said trying not to show the fear that was quickly rising in her chest.

"What's even better is that all of DX, including that husband of yours and John Cena are in ambulances on their way to the hospital at this very minute. You have no backup." Sable said with a smirk.

Stephanie wanted desperately to ask what had happened to Hunter but she knew better than to react to anything they had to say and she kept the unspoken words to herself. Stephanie already knew that tonight was going to be tough but she was tired of getting hurt and she was tired of hospitals and doctors so tonight she wouldn't let anyone hurt her. She would do whatever it took to get out of this match without much more than a couple of scrapes, bruises and sore muscles.

* * *

Sable and Vince walked out of the room sharing a small smile of satisfaction between the two of them as they realized almost immediately how much tonight was going to be tough for Stephanie. They couldn't wait until the match and they got the opportunity to get rid of their main problem for good. They shared a laugh as they walked down the hallway, unknown that the enforcer walking with them wasn't on their side any longer. 


	30. Chapter 30

Ch. 30

Stephanie could feel her mind spinning around with the news of the match and the fact that she had no one around to help her. She and Jillian had come to the agreement that she needed to go and see about the guys and their medical needs. Stephanie knew this was going to leave her incredibly vulnerable but that was not something she had any control over.

* * *

He was watching in the wings, waiting for his opportunity to make his comeback known. He had been gone for so long but now it was time for the world to know he was back and badder than ever. He was smirking as McMahon went over his plans for the night with him but no one knew, not even Vince and Sable, how bad tonight was really going to be.

* * *

Stephanie was nervous as most of the night went on and she realized that she still like everyone else didn't know who Sable was getting to help her that night. Groaning Stephanie finished pulling on her gear as her cell rang.

"Stephanie." She answered with a sigh.

"You should try answering the phone with your last name, Levesque." Hunter said softly into the phone.

"I might try that some time." Stephanie said softly. "How are you feeling?"

"Been better." Hunter groaned. "I wish I could be there to protect you."

"Never gonna happen." Stephanie sighed. "Look I am most likely facing total humiliation tonight so I will be there with you eventually."

"Well I will be here for you when you get here okay?" Hunter asked evenly.

"Relax I think I will be fine." Stephanie said trying to reassure her husband.

"Steph, you are not gonna be fine with no back up. If these damn doctors would hurry up and release me then I could be there soon to back you up." Hunter growled into the phone clearly impatient and irritated.

"I'm gonna hang up on you if you don't knock it off." Stephanie said with a sigh.

"Steph." Hunter started and then stopped. "I gotta go, Jillian gave me the heads up that the doctor is heading this way, I love you."

"Love you to." Stephanie said with a sigh as she hung up and finished pulling on the pads.

Later that night Stephanie headed towards the ring solo and unsure of who she was facing. She knew that Sable had gotten a partner but she wasn't going to be told who her second opponent was until they came down to the ring. Stephanie nodded her head slowly as they cued her music up. She walked out slowly to the crowds cheer as she felt every injury she had start it's protest at the walk down the ramp.

"Ladies and gentlemen the following match is scheduled for pinfall and is an intergender handi cap match. Introducing first from Greenwich, Connecticut Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley."

Stephanie walked down and heard the crowd start gasping since they thought she was no longer "Helmsley" but now she was again. Stephanie entered the ring and stood there with a pale face.

"And her opponents introducing first being escorted to the ring by Mr. McMahon, Sable!"

Sable walked out to her music with Vince on her arm. She smirked at the top of the ramp and then walked halfway down before she pointed to the curtain area where her partner was going to appear.

"Ladies and Gentlemen making his return from injury leave, Sable's partner, The Undertaker." The crowd gasped as the Undertaker made his way out and started down the ramp. His eyes were locked with Stephanie's in the ring and everyone could tell that there was intense fear in her eyes.

* * *

Triple H was sitting in his hospital room when the phone rang. He glanced at it and then slowly answered it. He had a spy at the arena that was set to let him know what was going on with Stephanie's match. His main concern was learning who Sable was partnering with and how bad it was looking for Stephanie.

"Paul." He answered simply.

"Undertaker." The voice said over the phone softly. "She is pretty freaked in the ring."

"Thanks." Hunter said hanging up.

* * *

Stephanie watched the Undertaker walk down to the ring and felt her heart beating faster and faster. She bit her bottom lip nervously and walked back until she was leaning on the ropes. She wanted desperately to run away from the ring but she knew that she would be in trouble if she did.

She knew that she was totally on her own and that was what worried her the most. No one was going to make sure she walked away from this and no one was going to be there when she got hurt, because facing the Undertaker only made it quite clear she was going to be leaving in an ambulance, yet again.

"I am so screwed." She muttered to herself and saw the sympathetic look the referee was shooting in her direction. She knew at that moment that something big was up and that she would be lucky to get out of here with her life in tact.

* * *

Hunter was arguing like mad with the hospital staff, begging them to let him leave because his wife needed him more than anything. He even said he would come back and let them do whatever they needed to him but it wasn't happening. The doctor wasn't budging with a possible head injury and Hunter knew that if he left without medical permission he was leaving Stephanie way to vulnerable.

* * *

Stephanie was watching the team she was facing enter the ring and trying to think of a strategy to save herself. She heard the ref call for the bell and Sable smirked in Taker's direction stating that she would start it off and then Taker could finish Stephanie off. Stephanie gulped and watched Taker leave the ring and Sable headed in her direction and Stephanie decided her only option was to take out Sable and get the quick pin if that was even going to be possible. But would it be possible with Taker and her dad ringside?

* * *

A:n – Next chapter is going to be the match. Sorry this chapter isn't that great but I have been on vacation (not really, just helping out my brother and stressing out because of some personal issues) so I have been out of state and my lap top isn't working right sometimes… luckily I got this chapter to finish. 


	31. Chapter 31

Ch. 31

Stephanie and Sable headed for each other at the same time and Stephanie immediately got the upper hand. She got the immediate take down of Sable and laughed as she realized that Sable was shocked at the immediate lose of the upper hand. Stephanie was glancing towards the outside out of the corner of her eye and watching the Undertaker as he stood there staring at the two women wrestling around in the ring. As much as Stephanie didn't want to face the Taker by herself she knew she was going to have to. Sighing she performed a bulldog on Sable and heard the other woman intake her breath sharply. She felt her father grip her ankle as Sable crawled over and tagged into the Undertaker. Now was the moment Stephanie feared above all else, the moment she would have to take on the dead man himself.

"You don't really want to do this." Stephanie said trying to convince the Undertaker that it wasn't what he wanted to do.

"Stephanie relax and it won't hurt as much." Taker said with a slight laugh.

"I thought that you wanted The Great Kahli?" Stephanie asked with a temor.

"Seriously relax Stephanie." Taker said with a sigh. "You are starting to annoy me."

"Please just please." Stephanie stuttered.

Vince and Sable entered the ring and threw the ref out. It wasn't about winning the match anymore, it was about punishment. Stephanie felt her father grab her in a chokehold and attempted to release herself from the hold but was unable to release herself from it. Groaning she clawed at her father's arm but felt herself growing weaker and weaker. She felt Sable slap her across the face and as much as she wanted to retaliate she couldn't get herself to the right position to actually do it. Stephanie watched as the Undertaker approached her but before he got close enough she lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen. Her father had succeeded in choking her out and making her even more helpless than before.

* * *

When Stephanie finally came to she started to wince in a mind of matter but then realized that she wasn't in any pain. She looked over and noticed Paul sitting next to her.

"What happened?" She asked as she realized the only thing that was really sore was her throat from where she had been choked by her own father.

"Undertaker took out your dad, turns out he's on our side." Paul said with a smirk. He nodded towards the corner of the room where Taker was standing with a couple of other members of DX.

"Well I guess I owe you an apology." Stephanie said with a wince towards him. "I know that I wasn't very trusting."

"You don't owe me anything Steph. I wouldn't be very trusting with a father like that either." Taker said shrugging his shoulders. "I need to get out of here."

"All right, thanks again for looking out for my wife Taker." Paul said getting up.

"I still can't believe you two are still married. Hey no problem, if my wife were caught in the same situation I would want someone else to step in and look out for her." Taker said as he walked out of the room.

"How are you feeling?" Paul asked reaching out to Stephanie.

"Like my dad wants to kill me. He tried to kill me tonight Paul. I don't think that this is about wrestling anymore Paul." Stephanie said starting to shake and turning very pale.

* * *

The next morning the two of them arrived at the next city for signings. Triple H was nervously waiting for a couple of members of DX who would be watching Stephanie. Since it was clear that this was no longer about business but was personal they weren't taking any chances. It just so happened that, that morning Stephanie wasn't feeling well and couldn't attend the signing with him.

"Steph maybe you need to go and see a doctor." He suggested getting worried at how pale she was looking that morning.

"It's just mental sickness I think. Look at it this way, I have a lot of things that are going on right now." Stephanie said waving away her husband's concerns. It still seemed so weird that they were married. It was clear that everyone had thought that their marriage was a fake marriage to begin with and no one even knew that it was real.

"Steph you never got checked out after being choked out by your dad, I think you should go and see a doctor. Why don't you let Jillian take you to the doctor?" He asked concerned.

"Will it get you off my back?" Stephanie asked finally.

"Yeah, for now." He admitted slowly.

"Fine I'll go see a stupid doctor." Stephanie said rolling her eyes. "But you have got to promise me that you will control your temper today when you go and do your signing. You know who is going to be there and he is going to try and get you to get yourself into trouble. He isn't about business anymore, which means he might call the police in and then you won't be around anymore to keep me safe." Stephanie pointed out.

"I know, which is why Cena is going to be there to keep me sane. The rest of DX is going to be guarding you, well the members that aren't in the hospital anyway." He said nodding his head slowly.

* * *

Later that day while Paul was out being Triple H, Stephanie and Jillian arrived at a local doctor's office. Stephanie was really bored by the time they were checked in and waiting for the doctor to call her.

"So why is everyone so worried about you?" Jillian asked flipping through a magazine that was like a year old.

"Because I haven't been feeling well since what happened last night. I mean when your own dad tries to kill you I think you have the right to be a little pale and nauseous." Stephanie said rolling her eyes.

The doctor called Stephanie in and examined her. She examined her throat and the bruises that had formed there and ran some standard labs since it had been a while since Stephanie's last check up and told Stephanie she would give her a call if anything significant showed up in the blood tests. Stephanie already knew nothing would so she just nodded her head and left with Jillian.

"So time to rest your throat and drink some liquids to minimize the pain in the throat and try to settle your stomach." Jillian said with a smirk. "Want me to call your hubby and let him know you are clear?"

"Nah, maybe later." Stephanie said a little tired.

* * *

Vince sat in his hotel room and stared at the pictures that his spy had taken. So Stephanie isn't feeling great, she had to go to the doctor. He thought to himself. 'Now it's time to make them all feel sick to their stomach's as he took everything to a new level.' 


	32. Chapter 32

Ch. 32

Stephanie looked up at Jillian who was sitting on the couch in the hotel room watching TV. She slowly climbed out of bed and walked over to sit next to her on the couch.

"Hey how ya feelin?" Jillian asked arching an eyebrow.

"Good, how long you been sitting there?" Stephanie asked with a small yawn and a look.

"Not to long." Jillian said as she glanced over at her. "Paul called and said that you were right about your dad. He tried to provoke him but John stepped in and kept him out of trouble like you said he should."

"All right that's good to know. Jillian my dad wasn't always like this, I just don't get it. Why is he being such a creep now?" Stephanie asked with a sigh.

"Maybe he just isn't happy with the fact that you aren't a conniving horrible person?" Jillian suggested with a shrug of her shoulders. "Stephanie you should be proud that you aren't like your father at all."

"I know I'm thrilled that she isn't like him." Paul said walking into the room with John Cena.

"Hey, Jillian told me that dad tried to provoke you?" Stephanie asked with an arched brow.

"Yeah, what did the doc say?" Paul asked more concerned with what was going on with her than with him.

"He said that I was tired and needed some sleep. I had been through a lot of injuries and he didn't understand how I was walking around, let alone stepping into a wrestling ring. He did a full regular checkup with blood work and will call my cell phone if anything pops up out of the ordinary. Since he knows we are leaving town soon he put a rush on it so we should get the results faster than normal." Stephanie said shrugging her shoulders.

"Wouldn't it be hilarious if it turned out there was a little Levesque on the way?" Jillian asked not knowing Steph and Paul's history with the baby they had lost.

"Yeah." Stephanie said her eyes downcast to the floor.

"Well Jillian and I will leave the two of you alone." John said as he grabbed Jillian's hand and dragged her out of the room.

* * *

After John and Jillian had left Stephanie could tell that Paul was distant with a look that said he didn't want to discuss the possibility of another baby. Stephanie got up and started walking towards the bathroom when she noticed Paul staring at her.

"Look we are eventually going to have to talk about what happened." Paul said simply.

"I thought we had talked about it." Stephanie said confused.

"I wasn't talking about the baby. I was talking about what happened with your dad. I know your dad is up to no good but I can't figure out what triggered it." Paul said frustrated. "He started attacking you before I was back in the picture so you need to think. What happened that caused your father to decide to try and kill you Steph."

"I have been trying to figure that out for a while Paul. I don't know why he is like this. But if you really think about it he started this when our marriage happened. He killed the baby and he has been on some sort of kick ever since." Stephanie pointed out with a sigh. "That's it, our marriage. This stems from the McMahon-Helmsley faction. When we created that era he went out of control. I just don't get why he is still on this kick now unless…" Stephanie trailed off as it dawned on her what was going on.

"Stephanie what is it?" Paul asked not following her train of thought.

"I can't believe I didn't see this." Stephanie said panicking. "It's you. My dad is mad about you. He thinks that you have taken over his show and by taking me out he gets to you. But I don't get why he would continue it after our 'marriage' was supposed to be over."

"Because he knew our marriage wasn't over." Paul whispered. "He was the reason it couldn't be ended. Your dad stepped in and told me to think things through before ending our marriage. He said he didn't want to see you hurt."

"That make's no sense considering how he has been treating me." Stephanie said as she glanced over and noticed her cell phone vibrating on the table.

Stephanie walked over and picked up her phone, after glancing at the caller ID she frowned not recognizing the number. Sighing she answered it and after a brisk conversation hung up the phone and glanced over at Paul who was watching her closely.

"Who was it?" Paul asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Look we'll talk about it later. First off I want to figure this whole thing out." Stephanie said with a sigh. "I want to know what my dad is up to and what his problem is with our marriage."

"Did you ever think it isn't our marriage, but it's the fact that his little girl got married at all and without him there?" Paul asked simply. "You're his only daughter he probably dreamed about walking you down the aisle the day you were born."

"But that's not the way to let me know that what you want is for me to get married in a big wedding so that you can be there, you know what I mean." Stephanie asked with a sigh. Rolling her eyes she glanced towards the bathroom door. "Look give me a few minutes and then we can talk about that phone call, it was the doctor's office."

Paul watched as Stephanie walked into the bathroom and tried to think of what could have possibly come up on her check up that they would call about. He remembered Jillian's comment and felt his excitement build at the possibility and then he remembered the situation they were in and he felt deflated. He could barely protect Stephanie now, if she was pregnant how could he protect her then?

"So what did the doctor say?" Paul asked when she came out of the bathroom.

* * *

A;N – okay this is where I need your help. I am not sure what I am gonna have the doctor tell her so I need your input.

Let me know if you think it should be a baby or if it should be something else. I am open to any suggestions you might have.


	33. Chapter 33

Ch. 33

"So are you going to tell me what the doctor said?" Paul asked crossing his arms in front of him.

"He said that some of my tests came back abnormal and he wants to run a couple of more." Stephanie said shrugging her shoulders. "His main concern is that I seem a little frazzled. He said there was a couple of tests the lab had failed to run so far and as soon as he got those back he would call me and let me know those results."

"So basically they know nothing right now?" Paul asked with a sigh.

"Basically there is probably nothing wrong except that I have an overprotective husband." Stephanie said sweetly.

* * *

Later that week the two of them were relaxing at the hotel pool in the city that they were getting ready to film the next show in. They were still trying to figure out what Vince was up to and struggled with figuring out way's to stop him.

"I think what we need is someone to come and help us." Stephanie said with a sigh.

"Stephanie, we have a lot of people who have been helping us." Jillian said as she walked over from where she had gotten out of the pool.

"We need someone who we can get on the inside. Someone who can get really close to Vince but really be on our side, someone who can spy for us and help us get to the bottom of what he is up to." Stephanie said as a new idea came over her.

"This is when we truly remember you are a McMahon." John said shaking his head.

"Actually she isn't a McMahon, she's a Levesque." Paul said with a sappy grin on his face.

"So did the doctor ever figure out what was wrong?" Jillian asked with a curious glance at her new friends.

"I had to go in for some more tests. It appears that someone in the lab messed up my blood work or something. So they are going to re-run their tests and take their time and call me on my cell when the results are in." Stephanie said with a sigh. "It's unfortunate that we couldn't just get this whole thing solved and out of the way."

* * *

Monday Night RAW:

Stephanie nervously sat in the DX locker room with Cena and Jillian. Paul was getting himself into character and Stephanie started reminding herself that she needed to start calling him Triple H or Hunter while in the arena. She glanced up as he entered the room with a camera crew and realized they were supposed to do some thing for the show. She nearly groaned since she had forgotten what she was supposed to say and exactly what was supposed to happen.

"Steph we have a situation." Paul said getting into character.

"We always have a problem." Stephanie said with a sigh. "What happened now?"

"Vince has ordered you into a match with Beth Phoenix and a partner of her choosing." Paul said with a sigh.

"Hunter, there is no way I can compete tonight." Stephanie said worriedly. "My doctor hasn't cleared me for ring action."

"I'll take your match." Jillian spoke up suddenly.

"You wanna wrestle in handi-cap match for me?" Stephanie asked turning towards her.

"Yeah, well someone has to stand up for you." Jillian joked with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Thanks Jillian." Paul said with a smile.

The camera crew left and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Now it was time to get to the unscripted stuff. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Vince was going to try and pull a stunt tonight that no one was expecting. But they needed to find a way to pull a stunt of their own.

"So who do you think we should get?" Jillian asked leaning back in her chair.

"A female." John said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Stephanie asked confused.

"Who do you think is going to get Vince talking more than a woman who might be able to get him to tell her anything for a chance to sleep with her." John explained with a smirk.

"Brilliant." Stephanie said nodding her head.

"But most of the divas in the WWE are on his side." Jillian spoke up.

"So we get someone unknown. Who do we know that we can bring into the WWE who would hold her own and be able to attract my dad?" Stephanie asked looking at Paul.

"I have an idea but it would mean bringing in a new member of DX." Paul said simply.

"Do you think the others would be okay with it?" Stephanie asked biting her lower lip.

"They are going to be okay with any plan that gets us even with Vince." Paul shrugged. "So John will you stay here and watch Steph for me? I'm gonna go see about a new member."

* * *

Paul walked down the hallway and stopped in front of the locker room he was looking for. He knocked on it and waited patiently for the person to open the door. Grinning he noticed the sounds coming from inside and rolled his eyes. He remembered the times when he used to be that way with Stephanie. He arched an eyebrow when the door opened and he smirked at the person standing there.

"I have a proposition for you." Paul said simply.

"Is it one I'm gonna like?" The person asked cautiously.

"I think so." Paul said as he entered the locker room and shook his head at the female sitting on a chair in the corner.

"What's your proposition?" He asked crossing his arms and walking over to where his girlfriend was sitting.

"How would you like the opportunity to help out DX and become a member?" Paul asked as he started explaining his idea to his new prospect. He could see interest on the faces staring back at him and he knew it was only a matter of time before Vince McMahon got what was coming to him.

* * *

AN – All right I am still looking for what the diagnosis should be right now that there is a baby on the way has 2 votes. And is the only thing in the lead. Please let me know because next chapter is the one where she really finds out what happened. 


	34. Chapter 34

Ch. 34

Stephanie was sitting with Cena and Jillian when Paul came back into the room with a smirk on his face. It was clear that he had won over the new secret member.

"So are we going to get a chance to find out who it is?" Stephanie asked her husband with a smile on her face.

"Unfortunately I can't tell you anything just yet. Look just know that a plan is in effect and that everything is under control. Now all we have to worry about is what's going to happen with Jillian's match tonight and how we are going to help her out." Paul said with a pointed look at Jillian and John.

"Well what would you suggest?" Jillian asked arching her eyebrows.

"I have no idea yet." Paul answered honestly.

Stephanie was sitting on the couch glancing over at the three others in the room who were going over a plan for the night. She wanted to scream at the fact that they were ignoring her completely. They had apparently decided that she wasn't necessary as part of the conversation. She rolled her eyes and leaned back into the couch studying her nails.

"Stephanie are you hungry?" Jillian asked suddenly.

"Yeah I guess." Stephanie said shrugging her shoulders. Stephanie got to her feet just as her cell phone rang. Frowning she glanced at the number and then rolled her eyes before answering it. "Hey mom."

"Stephanie what do you think you are doing at the arena?" Her mother's voice had become shrill.

"Hanging out at the moment and getting ready to go get something to eat." Stephanie said sarcastically.

"Stephanie I am your mother and the only thing I am worried about is taking care of you." Linda said with a sigh.

"Ma, I am an adult and I assure you everything is fine. I need to get going though." Stephanie said as she pressed the end button on her cell phone.

"Your mom?" Jillian asked as they walked out of the locker room towards the area where there was some fresh fruit and stuff.

"Yeah." Stephanie said as she grabbed a bottle of water and leaned back against the wall.

"What's the matter with you today?" Jillian asked her.

"The doctor called me and gave me my test results." Stephanie admitted looking at the ground.

* * *

Vince was sitting behind his desk inside his makeshift office and glared at Coach. He could tell that whatever news he was about to deliver was not going to be good at all. Vince leaned back in his leather chair and waited to hear what news Coach had to deliver.

"Sir the men you hired to take care of the people that betrayed you have decided they no longer want any involvement. They said that the things you want done are just to much for them." Coach said wincing.

"So I need to find some new people on the outside of the company to do my bidding when it comes to Stephanie and that son-in-law of mine?" Vince asked sarcastically.

* * *

Sable was laughing as she stood with Beth Phoenix. Beth had already made her partner choice and Sable had to agree that it was a good choice. She watched as Beth stretched and flexed some of her muscles and had to agree that Jillian Hall was about to encounter someone she had no chance of ever defeating.

"So your partner is going to help make sure that Jillian Hall never wrestles again?" Sable asked checking out her nails.

"I swore I would take care of business for you and Mr. McMahon and I meant it. There won't be another diva who will be willing to step in the ring in the princesses' place." Beth said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I'm glad to hear you say that. We don't want the little spoiled brat Stephanie to think that she has any shot of getting back to power within the WWE." Sable said with anger in her voice.

"I thought she was still technically the GM of Smackdown." Beth said confused.

"Yeah but we have seen her at both Smackdown and RAW showings." Sable said rolling her eyes.

"So she has power on both shows?" Beth asked confused.

"No she has respect on both shows, which is something I plan to beat out of her." Sable said with a glare on her face.

* * *

Stephanie sighed as she walked back into the locker room where she saw Cena and her husband deep in thought. Neither man moved as she sat down on the couch and so she decided to make her presence known.

"You know Jillian's match is up and she is going down there solo." Stephanie said suddenly snapping John Cena out of his deep thoughts. He jumped to his feet and ran out of the locker room towards the entrance ramp.

"Are you feeling all right?" Paul asked as he got up and moved to sit next to her on the couch.

"Why do you ask?" Stephanie asked a little jumpy.

"You don't seem like yourself is all." Paul said worriedly. "What's going on?"

"The doctor called and told me what my test results are." Stephanie whispered as she stared at the locker room floor. She wasn't sure how her husband was going to react to the news that she was about to deliver to him.

"What's wrong?" Paul asked instantly. "Are you sick? Do we need to get you back to the doctor's office? Should you be in a hospital?"

"Will you stop it? Sheesh you are really something." Stephanie said rolling her eyes.

"Will you just tell me what's wrong with you?" Paul asked sitting on the edge of the couch clenching Stephanie's hands in his.

"Well, he said he had what he considered good news for me. He said all of my tests came back normal. He said that my health is good and that I should be all right. However I need to avoid stress as much as possible at the moment and probably for the next few months." Stephanie said biting her lower lip.

"Why?" Paul asked holding his breath.

"I'm pregnant." Stephanie said as she in turn held her breath waiting for his reaction to her news.


	35. Chapter 35

Ch. 35

"Paul did you hear what I said?" Stephanie asked confused when she got no reaction out of Paul. "I'm pregnant."

"Yeah I heard what you said." Paul said feeling numb and confused. A part of him was happy that he was gonna be a dad but another part of him was scared because now wasn't the best time for a child to be brought into the world. Sighing Paul got up from the couch and headed towards the bathroom that was connected to the locker room they were in, he needed to throw some water on his face.

* * *

Stephanie watched Paul get up and walk away and she felt sad and upset. At this point she figured that he wasn't at all happy about the baby and she got up to leave. Grabbing her bag she walked out of the locker room and headed towards the parking lot. She felt the tears in her eyes and the few that had started trickling down her face. As she got almost to the parking lot she could hear footsteps behind her and when she glanced up she was surprised to see Kurt Angle standing there.

"Kurt?" Stephanie asked cautiously.

"Hey, Karen and I just stopped by to see some old friends, are you all right?" Kurt asked her concerned as he saw the tears.

"Yeah I'm just not feeling well." Stephanie said shrugging her shoulders. "I was going to go ahead and fly back home for a while and stay with my mom."

"Oh, you want Karen and I to take you to the airport?" Kurt asked really concerned for her.

"That's not necessary. Steph, get back inside." Paul said standing there with a freaked out look on his face.

"No." Stephanie said simply. "You made your feelings quite clear and at the moment I don't want to be around you. I'm gonna go and stay with my mom."

"Right, great idea. Go stay at a house that your father owns so that he can get to you so much easier." Paul said sarcastically. "Not a bright idea."

"Shut up." Stephanie said simply feeling humiliated with Kurt standing right there as the tears fell from her eyes faster and faster. "You act like you know everything but you don't."

"Hey maybe you two should have this conversation somewhere more private." Kurt suggested. "Paul I would suggest being a little bit more sensitive to what's going on with your wife."

"Hey I don't need you to tell me what to do with my wife." Paul said getting upset with Kurt.

"Well my wife is standing over there and I don't see her crying her eyes out." Kurt pointed out simply.

"Paul isn't happy about the fact that he is going to be a father." Stephanie said angrily. "He doesn't want me to have a baby right now."

"That's not true Steph." Paul said softly.

"Yes it is. I saw your face when I told you about the baby. I should have known." Stephanie said before turning away only to scream when she saw a guy standing a few feet away with a gun pointed at her.

"Steph!" Kurt shouted before grabbing her and pulling her out of the way just as the gun went off.

Security came running and started chasing the guy but he was long gone by then. Stephanie stared at the ceiling of the parking garage gulping and shaking. She felt arms lifting her up off the ground as she started shaking more violently.

"Baby it's going to be okay. You're okay." Paul whispered as he held Stephanie close to him. "No one is going to hurt you all right."

Stephanie just nodded as she clung to him before feeling her legs give out. She felt her husband lifting her into his arms and she wrapped her arms around his neck feeling the tears pouring from her eyes. How could she bring a child into this world at the moment? She finally realized why Paul had reacted the way he did, he was afraid she wouldn't be able to carry the baby fully because of her father. She bit her bottom lip nervously.

"I think I am going to have to go away for a while." Stephanie whispered against Paul's neck.

"You don't have a choice. I am not going to let us lose this baby to." Paul said as he kissed her forehead and laid her down on the couch in the locker room.

* * *

Shane sucked in a deep breath as he realized what was going on. As much as he understood where his father was coming from on wanting to make Stephanie pay for crossing him and questioning his authority, murder was a different story. He glanced at his mother and noticed she to was getting more and more concerned. There was no way they could stop their father from executing his plan but there had to be a way that they could help Paul protect Stephanie.

"Paul says she's pregnant Shane." Linda said with a sigh. "Vince can't get to her, not now."

"We don't know where to place her where she could be safe mom." Shane reminded her simply.

"There has to be some place that we can put her."

* * *

Vince was grinning from ear to ear. He had heard that everyone was getting ready to hide Stephanie because she was pregnant. He was ready to make sure that DX wouldn't be allowed to leave and protect her. He glanced up as a new woman walked into his office and sat across from him. Little did he know she was the newest secret member of DX.

"I heard that you were handsome, I just didn't know how handsome." The woman said flirtatiously.

"Well I do work out and take special care of myself." Vince said his giant ego showing.

"I like to do the same." The woman said unzipping her jacket to show off her abs. "What do you think?"

"I think you might be a perfect new smackdown GM." Vince said with his evil smirk.

Soon things were about to go downhill for Vince McMahon. Very soon he would pay for everything he had done so badly to his own child.


	36. Chapter 36

AN – Just to let you know I am going to be skipping through a 7 month period in the chapter…. This is just because I want to be able to keep the main characters in it while at the same time getting the wrestling part in it….

* * *

Ch. 36

Stephanie sighed as she sat in the seat of the private plane that was flying her and Paul to a secret location. She knew her brother and mother had found someplace to hide the two of them while they tried to find something to do to Vince to stop him. Stephanie placed her hand on her still flat stomach and bit her bottom lip nervously. She glanced over at Paul who was sound asleep in his seat. She tried to hide the concerned look on her face. Paul hadn't been sleeping well lately, he was always staying up at night and watching her, she knew that. He was so afraid that something was going to happen to her or the baby and that it made her smile to think of how much he cared for them. She turned and stared out the window, her hand still protectively over her stomach.

"Hey." Paul said sleepily, drawing her attention back to him.

"Hey." Stephanie responded. "With us gone what's going to happen to your big plan?"

"It's going to be going on while we are gone. After the baby is born, we will return and everything will be ready for your father's downfall." Paul answered with a sigh. "Stephanie we are only going to be gone until the baby comes, you know that right?"

"Yeah I know that. I guess I am just worried what's going to happen after the baby is here." Stephanie said.

"Let's not think about that now." Paul said with a smile.

The two of them arrived at the secret location and Stephanie's eyes widened. After they had landed at the airport a car had taken them to a house hidden deep within a coast line and surrounded by trees. When they walked into the house they noticed it was fully furnished and ready for them. They glanced at each other and then around the house fully taking in the home they were going to be living in for the next seven months.

"So I guess this is only home for the next seven months." Stephanie said with a sigh.

"Yup." Paul said nodding his head.

* * *

2 months later…

John and Jillian were gripping as they walked down the hallway. DX had returned from their injury leave and were just as unaware of who Paul had brought into the mix. They knew that it was a female and her boyfriend who was part of the group but neither one of them was allowed to tell anyone yet.

"Look Vince is out of control. Just because he can't find Stephanie doesn't mean he has to take it out on all of the other superstars." Jillian said with a sigh.

"Well you know how he is, if things aren't going his way then everyone else will pay." John said shrugging as they entered the DX locker room. "Hey guys."

"Hey." Everyone said back as they glanced up and saw the two of them enter.

She sat behind her desk as the new smackdown GM. She was aware that Sable was angry she wasn't given the position and she was secretly thrilled that it was working. She knew that in five more months Paul and Stephanie would return, with a baby, and they would officially take Vince down. She was already allowed to hear some vital information, information she was keeping track of. She had made a couple of secret moves that had hurt Vince business wise but he still had no clue it was her that was doing it. She sighed as she heard the door to her office open and she smiled when she saw who walked in.

"Hey babe." She said softly.

"Hey, enjoying your new position?" Her boyfriend asked with a smile.

"You know I am." She said with a sigh.

* * *

5 months later…. (7 months after Steph and Paul left.)

Stephanie smiled as she held her daughter. She looked up as she saw the awed look on her husbands face and she had to laugh.

"You know you are allowed to hold her." Stephanie joked as she stroked her daughter's cheek.

"I know." Paul said as they boarded the plane to head back. "I just hate that we are going to be putting her in so much danger."

"Well I am sure that the guys are really going to step up and protect her. She is always going to be with us so she should be a bit safer." Stephanie said as she placed Aurora in her car seat. She glanced over at Paul who was sitting across from them so Stephanie could sit next to the baby.

"Stephanie I want you to promise me that no matter what happens, you will choose her over me or anyone else." Paul said suddenly.

"What are you talking about?" Stephanie asked confused.

"Stephanie, I just want you to promise that no matter what happens Aurora will come first." Paul said crossing his arms as the plane took off and headed for Chicago where Smackdown was going to be filmed next.

"I don't like where this is going. All you need to know is that I will do what I feel is necessary." Stephanie said stubbornly.

"Fine but Aurora comes first." Paul said wanting to get the last word.

* * *

When Stephanie and Paul landed in Chicago they were met at the airport by John and Jillian. Stephanie smiled when she saw the two of them rushing towards them. She knew that Jillian wanted to see Aurora and that John wanted to talk to Paul about what had been happening with her father after they had left.

"Let me see that little girl." Jillian said as she walked over to Stephanie and stared at the little girl in her arms. "Oh my goodness she is a beautiful baby."

"Thank you." Stephanie said as she cuddled her newborn infant. "The doctor wasn't happy about us putting her on a plane on such a young age but we didn't have a choice unfortunately."

"Yeah well, let's go talk while those two talk about how Paul's plan is coming along."

"All right John now is the time when everything finally bites Vince McMahon in the…" Paul trailed off with a smirk on his face.


	37. Chapter 37

Ch. 37

Paul and Stephanie walked through the hallways of Smackdown. When they passed someone they knew or trusted they did stop and show off little Aurora, who seemed to be the most popular person out of their trio. They finally arrived at the DX locker room and sighed with relief when they entered and saw their friends.

"Welcome home you three." Shawn said with a smirk as he walked over to the couple. "So Game, man, how does it feel to be a daddy?"

"Better than being champion." Paul admitted honestly.

"Well then maybe you should concentrate on having kids." John joked with a chuckle. "Let me take over holding the title."

"Haha funny." Paul said rolling his eyes.

"So when do we get to find out who the new members are and what this big plan of yours is?" Shawn asked seriously. "I mean we have all been patient and we have all been wondering what sick little plan you managed to come up with."

"Don't worry you guys, all will be revealed in good time." Paul said shrugging his shoulders.

"He won't even tell me and I gave birth to his daughter." Stephanie said narrowing her eyes at her husband before she took Aurora over to where Jillian was sitting and sat next to her.

"Looks like you might be in the doghouse soon enough if you don't spill the beans." Shawn teased his old friend.

"Stephanie knows that I would tell her if I felt it would be relevant but the less people who know about the plan and who is involved the better off everyone will be. You guys know I trust you, I just want to make sure that no one can hold you accountable if something goes wrong with this plan and someone gets hurt." Paul said honestly.

"So when do we see Vince go down?" Jesse spoke up from his spot.

"Soon, don't worry you guys he is going down soon enough." Paul said with a smirk. "Vince isn't going to know what hit him."

* * *

Vince was getting more and more paranoid. He knew someone close to him was hurting his business decisions but he still didn't know who it was. He knew that he had to be someone he trusted more than he should be trusting. He looked up as Coach walked into his office followed by Sable and the A Train.

"Stephanie and Triple H have returned with your grandchild." Coach informed him simply.

"And?" Vince asked not elaborating.

"A girl, according to some of the other wrestlers her name is Aurora Rose Levesque." Sable spoke up.

"Well then I want to meet my granddaughter. Coach I suggest you got to the DX locker room and make sure it happens because if my daughter and granddaughter don't show their faces in this office soon then there will be trouble." Vince said with an evil look.

"Triple H isn't going to let them anywhere near you and you know it." Sable said shaking her head.

"Well then we are just going to have to get him away from her then aren't we?" Vince said with a look of pure hatred on his face. As much as he had always loved his daughter he couldn't stand the decisions that she had been making lately. The fact that she had married Paul Levesque AKA Triple H had been the final straw. Stephanie was going to learn that there was one thing you didn't do and that was cross him.

* * *

Stephanie had a bad feeling as she finished feeding Aurora in the bathroom that was attached to their locker room and then walked out. She could see Coach sitting on the couch with DX surrounding him with serious looks on their faces.

"What's going on?" Stephanie asked as she handed Aurora to Paul as she was starting to get a little fussy and she had some things to put in the diaper bag.

"Your father would like to see you and his granddaughter in his office immediately." Coach said quickly.

"Over our dead bodies." Everyone in the room said at the same time.

"Look he is the grandfather and he has a right to meet his granddaughter." Coach said trying to get them to agree as best as he can.

"He killed his first grandchild I honestly doubt he really cares about this one." Stephanie said sarcastically. "What's his plan? Get me in there alone, take me out and kidnap Aurora?"

"If that's his plan you can tell Vince that if he touches either my wife or my daughter I will kill him and I don't mean that as a figure of speech, I mean he better plan a funeral." Paul said in a low voice not wanting to upset the infant in his arms.

"I swear he just said he wanted to see his daughter and granddaughter." Coach said swallowing hard.

"Tell him the answer is no." Jillian said trying to defuse the situation sensing the infant was starting to get upset. "I think you better go before they decide to take out their aggressions on you." She suggested as she glanced at the faces around her.

* * *

After Coach had left Paul handed Aurora back to Stephanie and pulled the guys aside. After informing them he was going to check in with their secret members and that no one was allowed to leave the room until he returned he left to find his members and see what they were up to and see where they were with the plan. When he arrived at the GM office he walked in without knocking and noticed the female half sitting there with Sable and Vince. He quickly thought of another reason to be there and turned his attention towards Vince not wanting to give away the fact that she was a part of DX.

"You ever send anyone to see my daughter or my wife again, you ever come near any of them and I will make your life a living hell Vince." Paul said turning and walking out the door.

As Paul walked away he knew that something big was going to happen that night before it was through.

* * *

AN – I know this isn't my best chapter but folks my family moved so for right now I am just trying to get something updated for everyone to get something to read. I promise to work on getting you a better chapter once I get something updated on all my other stories and then there you go.


	38. Chapter 38

Ch. 38

Stephanie glanced down at Aurora who was asleep in her arms. She sighed as she watched her daughter sleep peacefully, thankful that she was safe in her arms at the moment. She looked up at Jillian who was fiddling with the laces on her boots. She knew that all the members were extremely nervous about their matches for the night because they weren't all that sure who was on their side and who wasn't. It was a known fact that getting in Vince's way when he wanted something was a bad idea and right now they were all standing in the way of him getting any shot at his granddaughter. She got up and walked over to where her car seat was sitting and debated about putting her inside it but then changed her mind, opting to just cuddle her in her arms some more. She heard the loud pounding out in the hallway and immediately went into protection mode, something bad was about to happen and she could feel nothing but panic.

* * *

DX jumped to their feet and immediately formed barriers around Stephanie and Aurora. Jillian was standing just a few feet away, just in case there was something she could do to keep the two of them safe. When the door flew open there was nothing but chaos everywhere. There was fighting everywhere and Aurora woke up and started screaming at the noise. Stephanie could feel nothing but panic as she looked for any way to get herself and her daughter out of there safely. She realized there was nothing she could do as A-Train stood in front of her with an evil grin on his face.

* * *

Paul walked into the locker room and stared at the destruction and scattered bodies of his teammates. He noticed Jillian struggling to wake up and felt his blood boiling. He knew immediately what had happened and now he was going to go and make his father-in-law pay. He rushed out of the room and headed towards where the GM office was.

* * *

Stephanie made sure she was in the way of any moves Vince or Sable could make towards her daughter. They were in the back of a limo heading somewhere and all Stephanie could think of was there was no way Paul was going to be able to find them now. She knew she was the only person who could protect her daughter from the monster her father had become.

"What do you want?" Stephanie asked for the millionth time it seemed.

"Relax, I just wanted some time with my daughter and a chance to get to know my granddaughter." Vince said as he sipped some champagne. He held out a glass towards Stephanie who declined yet again. "Why won't you have some?"

"I'm breastfeeding, it's not good for Aurora." Stephanie said simply.

"All right I will except that for now." Vince said shrugging his shoulders. "My granddaughter is surprisingly beautiful considering who her parents are, don't you think?" Vince asked Sable with a snide look on his face.

"Well we know she doesn't take after her mother or father so it must be your genes coming through." Sable responded with a sweet smile on her face and a look of utter adoration for Vince on her face.

"Oh puh-lease I really think you wouldn't want throw up on the floor of your limo. Why don't you just tell me why I am here and what you want so we can get this over with?" Stephanie asked rolling her eyes.

"That should be obvious Stephanie. What I want is for you to come to your senses about this whole thing. Paul Leveque is the last person you should be with, he is the last person in the world that should be connected with our family. I want you to divorce him, I will make sure he has no shot at custody of little Aurora and you join me. If you do this then I can ensure that you are completely safe and so is my granddaughter." Vince said sipping his champagne.

"Why can't you be like a normal person and just accept that as an adult I am allowed to make my own decisions? You killed my first child and now I finally have a beautiful baby with the man I love, why can't you just leave it at that?" Stephanie asked with tears forming in her eyes. A part of her was screaming she should accept the deal for her daughter and her husbands sake. Maybe if she did what her father wanted he wouldn't hurt either of them but her heart wouldn't let her. She had been away from Paul for way to long.

"Stephanie we can take Aurora away from you right now and there would be no way you could find her." Sable spoke up with a cocked eyebrow.

"You stupid little…" Stephanie trailed off with a glance at her infant daughter. She took a deep breath and then released it before she started speaking again. "If you think you are going to touch my little girl I will have to hurt you."

"Like you could stop me." Sable muttered but kept quiet after a glance from Vince.

* * *

Paul was furious as his fist went through another wall. He couldn't believe that there was no way to track where Vince had taken his family. Paul was trying so hard to keep that anger showing so that no one would know that deep down he was panicking. He needed to find his wife and his infant daughter. He knew Stephanie was still recovering from giving birth and Aurora was basically a newborn and completely defenseless. This was all his fault, he should have seen this coming. He should have known that Vince would do whatever it took to get to Stephanie and Aurora and he had failed them.

"If anything happens to my family there will be nothing left for me but to take out Vince McMahon." Paul whispered completely unaware that DX had gathered around him.

"You won't be alone when it comes time to rid the world of Vincent Kennedy McMahon. We are all behind you." The said together in unison.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Stephanie wasn't sure where she was but when the limo had stopped she had managed to get Aurora and jump out. She had started running as fast as she could, grateful she hadn't worn heels tonight and now she was completely lost. She cuddled her daughter close, aware that the freezing night air was getting to them both. She needed to find a phone and someway to let Paul know where she was and how to find her. She bit her lip nervously as she noticed curious glances from people who didn't look all that friendly on the street. Her biggest fear is that someone was going to come over and try and take her little girl away from her.

"Mommy has you baby girl." She whispered to her antsy daughter who was cold and probably getting hungry. Stephanie knew having a newborn out in this weather was asking for bad news. "Mommy is going to find a way to let daddy know where we are. Daddy will save us baby, daddy always does."

* * *

Vince was beyond angry as the limo drove straight to the airport. He couldn't believe how careless the driver had been in not locking the doors. Now Stephanie and Aurora were out there on the street, as far away from him as they could be at the moment and that made him angry. It wasn't supposed to happen like that, no way was his daughter supposed to be that afraid to be around him that she would run out with her daughter in this bad weather into a bad area of town. He groaned aloud as Sable smirked at him.

"She has my granddaughter out in this weather, it isn't funny." He muttered to her.

"Of course not. That poor baby deserves a better mother than the one she has. We could work on taking that little girl away from her and that would make things a whole lot better don't you think so? I mean the two of us could probably raise that baby a whole lot better than your son-in-law and your daughter anyway." Sable said planting a plan in Vince's mind.

"I'll think about it." Was all he said as he leaned back in his seat.

* * *

Paul was getting more and more frantic as he paced around the arena. The show was over but there was no way he could leave now. He noticed the rest of the team was leaning against the walls of the dressing room, intent to stay with him until there was some sort of news about Stephanie and baby Aurora. He could tell they all felt guilty about not being able to protect her, but that was his job and he was the one who let them down. He should have been with his wife and daughter and not away from them at all. He groaned as he noticed it was getting colder outside. Aurora was just a newborn and with all of her things still there in the dressing room, she had to be freezing.

"If Aurora or Stephanie even get a cold from this he is paying." Paul muttered.

"Hey we are all for making Vince McMahon pay, just let us know what the plan is and when we are enforcing it." Jesse said evenly.

"Let me check with the new member and his girlfriend and see if they have heard of anything if they know anything." Paul said thinking quickly. "I have to find my wife and daughter and fast. Who knows what crazy and psycho things Vince is up to right now."

"We are going to find them Paul." Jillian said with guilt in her eyes. She felt like she had let her friend down because she hadn't helped her or Aurora get away from Vince.

"You all know this isn't your fault right? It's mine. I should have found a way to keep my wife and daughter away from here." Paul said looking at all of his teammates.

* * *

Stephanie was starting to panic as she walked alone on the deadly streets. She could tell that her daughter was cold but there was nothing she could do about that. She was looking for any type of phone or a safe place where she could get some help. She had yet to see even a police officer patrolling the area that she could trust to get her safely back to her husband and the team that would keep them safe.

"Mommy is so stupid. She should have waited to we were in a safer area before attempting to get away from that horrible man who is unfortunately your grandfather." Stephanie whispered as she kept her eyes open and scanned every face that she saw.

* * *

Paul was frantic when he got the news from his sources that Stephanie had managed to escape but there was no way to find her at the moment. He knew that she was capable of handling herself but he had to wonder how she would be able to fight with a baby in her arms. He was pacing back and forth with everyone staring worriedly at him, unsure of what was going to happen next. If there was no way to find Stephanie then there was no way to help her if she was in trouble.

"We have to find a way to get to her and to help her. There has to be something we are missing." Paul said with a small smile. It was really a forced smile in an attempt to soothe his teammates who were looking more and more guilty.

* * *

Stephanie saw the phone booth and frantically rushed for it. She hoped that Paul would answer his phone if she could find a way to call him. She locked herself inside the booth and quickly picked up the phone. She frowned when she got no dial tone and could only feel the tears building in her eyes. There had to be a way to get some help and she knew she needed help and soon.


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40

Stephanie was getting more and more frantic as she walked through the neighborhood until someone who looked really nice walked up to her. She looked at the young woman with fear and terror etched on her face. She could tell that she was looking like a rich woman and anyone could decide to use her for money at the moment. Stephanie felt the fear rise in her as she stared at the woman unsure what her intentions would be.

"You look cold. Why would you take an infant out in this weather?" She asked with an annoying I know better than you voice.

"I escaped from someone who was kidnapping me and my child. They were about to take us to the airport and take us further away from my husband. I need a phone so I can call him to pick us up." Stephanie said terrified that someone was going to try and take her little girl away from her.

"Well then that is a little different. There is a community phone up the street. I can't take you there because then you might get in trouble with the cops. They don't like me very much. They hang out around the phone." The woman said shrugging and the walking away.

Stephanie hurried to the phone not to make a call but because she said there would be cops there. When she got there sure enough there were police and they knew who she was. When she explained what her dad had done they got upset and agreed to take her to the arena to see if Paul was still there. If he wasn't there then they would take her to the hotel. Stephanie felt grateful and completely safe in the car with them as they rode to the arena. When they got there Stephanie ran inside and found Paul sitting in the dressing room with his head in his hands. Stephanie hurried up to him and placed her hand on his knee. He quickly looked up and when he saw the two of them he hugged them like mad.

"There are some cops waiting outside. Maybe you should give them an autograph, they are fans and they saved me." Stephanie explained as Paul grabbed their stuff so they could get their little girl safely back to the hotel and asleep in her portable crib that was there waiting for her.

"That would be an excellent idea." Paul said as they walked out and saw the cops still waiting there to make sure she was safe. When he offered them autographs he could see how thrilled they were that they were going to get some. They even asked for Stephanie's. She couldn't sign it properly with her daughter in her arms but it worked out for them. When they were done with autographs they got in the car and put Aurora in her seat.

"You don't understand what I have been through when I finally escaped from my dad. I was in the worst part of town with Aurora and I was scared to death that something bad was going to happen to both of us and there was nothing I could do about it because it would be my fault for running away at the wrong time but it was the only time I could get away without being stopped." Stephanie rambled on scared to death that he was going to be mad at the part of town she was in with their little girl. "I put our daughter at risk." She whispered softly.

"No you saved our daughter from a monster." Paul said shaking his head. Paul leaned over and kissed her softly on the lips before he started the car and backed it out of the space. He had sent DX back to the hotel hours ago and now he was going to give them some good news. They were all waiting in his hotel room for the good news that he had right now. He could call and tell them but he wanted to see their faces when they showed up.

* * *

Back at the hotel the members of Degeneration x were hanging out in the Levesque hotel room and were not having fun. They couldn't believe they had failed at the simple task and the most important task of protecting Stephanie and baby Aurora. How could they have screwed up at something so important? Stephanie and Aurora were in the hands of the evilest person they knew, Vincent Kennedy McMahon. They had to find a way to work through this and get her back and soon. Paul wouldn't be able to function with his wife and daughter in trouble.

"We need a plan." Shawn said simply.

* * *

Stephanie was thrilled when they made it back to the hotel. She was tired and she wanted to make sure that everyone else was all right. She also knew that she was supposed to show them that she and the baby were okay as well. She wanted to make sure that no one felt guilty for something that wasn't their fault.

"You didn't blame anyone for this did you?" Stephanie asked a little afraid of the answer.

"No I was very nice and didn't blame one person for what happened to you." Paul said a little hurt that she would think that but then he saw her point of view and winced. He did blame people often for things even when it wasn't their fault and that was just because he wanted to keep his family and everyone safe from harm. His friends were also like his family and knowing they put their own safety on the back burner to keep his wife and baby safe meant a lot to Paul and he was going to make sure that they all understood that.

"Paul they did their best and I know you know they didn't want anything to happen to me or Aurora." Stephanie pointed out.

"I know and I can't thank them enough. I am just so happy that everyone is safe and happy now." Paul said reaching one hand out and grabbing Stephanie's hand. He knew everyone at the hotel was going to be thrilled.


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Stephanie and Paul walked into the room and saw the members of DX all sitting up and trying to come up with a game plan. She had to smile, this was something she had missed when she thought she and Paul were really divorced. She still didn't understand why he didn't divorce her but she figured he had his reasons and although she didn't know them and wouldn't understand them she couldn't be happier that he kept their marriage together.

"So I was wondering something." Paul said walking into the room and everyone snapped their heads up and looked towards him and when they saw Stephanie holding Aurora they all smiled in relief.

"We are so sorry Steph." Jesse said with a wince.

"For what? You have nothing to be sorry for. What happened tonight was not anyone in this rooms' fault. My father is a sick man and he made the choice to be the way he is and act the way he is acting. I know that if we find a way to break the hold Sable has on him we might be able to get him." Stephanie said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"I don't think your father is going to join DX and fight the rebels that have invading. Stephanie sighed in contentment as she just held her husband.

* * *

An hour later Stephanie was asleep in the bed and Paul was supposed to by lying next to her but something was bothering her. She just locked herself away and wouldn't tell him what was on her mind.

"What's it like?" The woman said walking into the room in just a robe. "What's it like the screw Triple H? Is he a hottie in bed? Maybe you would let me screw him and you watch." A woman said after shaking Stephanie awake..

"You want me to back off and watch you make love to my husband?" Stephanie asked in shock. She wasn't sure who it was but she knew why she was here. She had a feeling she was put up to this by Sable and Vince. She bit her bottom lip and wondered what she should do at this moment. If she screamed she would wake her little baby girl, her newborn baby girl. She decided she would just have to deal with that because this woman wasn't going away. "Paul!" She yelled loudly.

Paul was sitting in the living room and when he heard his wife yell his name he ran into the room and saw her struggling with another woman. She listened as the woman muttered about being the only woman for Triple H and how she needed to back off. Paul walked over and grabbed the woman around the waist and yanked her away from Stephanie. As he put her on the floor on the other side of him he looked between his wife and the other woman. He heard his daughter crying behind him and he motioned for Stephanie to go to her. Stephanie nodded and headed to the crib to take care of their little girl.

"Who are you?"Paul asked simply.

"I am the one person who is going to love you no matter what. Hunter she lied to you, she told you she was pregnant when she wasn't. I am the one who is going to bear your children. I bet that little girl isn't even yours." The woman said with a smirk on her face.

"First off never insult my wife like that again. Second off when we aren't taping my name is Paul. Third off, that little girl is my daughter and I love her more than anything in this world. And the last thing I am going to say to you is this, there is nothing between us, and there is nothing ever going to be between us. You need to go and find someone else because I am madly in love with my wife and I have no plans to leave her or our daughter ever." Paul said with a menacing look on his face.

It took them two hours to get rid of the woman but Stephanie had managed to call security and they were the ones to come and get her out of there. Stephanie was still cuddling her newborn daughter as she watched her husband pacing back and forth. She could tell immediately that he was extremely upset about everything that had happened. She also knew he was trying to figure out why this woman just suddenly appeared and wanted to come after him now.

"Paul let's get some sleep. We have a lot of things to go over tomorrow with the rest of the team and if we aren't one hundred percent there, then we are not going to be able to handle everything. You will be so out of it and maybe even fall asleep in the middle of the conversation." Stephanie said as she walked over and gently kissed him on the lips.

"Here let me take her. I will get her to fall asleep and then put her in her crib. You were fast asleep, and I know you are tired. Go and get some rest and let me deal with her." Paul said as he held out his arms for his daughter.

Stephanie sighed as she handed over Aurora to Paul. She kissed her forehead and then kissed her husband on the mouth. Then she walked over to the bed and crawled into the bed. She pulled the covers up to her chin and cuddled into the bed. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, even though she was going to try and stay awake until her husband joined her.

* * *

Paul watched his wife sleep and gently swayed with his daughter in his arms. He didn't tell his wife that he knew who that woman was and he was sure he knew why she was showing up now. He hadn't seen her since about a year or so ago. Now that he was back with his wife he didn't want anything to come between the two of them, especially since they had this beautiful daughter and Stephanie had so many people trying to harm her. Paul needed to come up with a game plan for that woman, just as much as he needed the team to help him come up with a plan to deal with Vince. This was going to be an interesting time, that was for sure.

* * *

( An: Don't worry folks… it will get better. Sorry it took so long but my comp crashed and it had the new chap on it so I needed to use my brand new computer, which I just bought recently, to write the chapter. So thanks to everyone who reads and reviews. Please let me know what you think. I am also open to suggestions on anything… please be nice and no mean comments!)


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter 42

Stephanie was sitting on the couch as she studied Paul. She knew immediately that he was hiding something from her and she was upset that he was. She knew there was something on his mind that he wasn't telling her and she was worried that it had something to do with that woman from last night. She needed her husband to be honest with her and she needed to know they were on the same page. When she had gotten up in the morning Paul had been asleep on the couch. He had gone to the bed and grabbed a pillow and then he had grabbed the extra blanket and he had made a bed for himself on the couch, almost like he didn't feel like he belonged or deserved to be in bed with her. She was beginning to wonder if he hadn't had a relationship with this woman when they were apart and he was worried about her finding out since they had apparently still been married. She wanted so badly to be someone he could confide in but it was apparent that, that wasn't the case. With that thought in her head she made a very hard decision and she walked over and picked up Aurora's car seat and headed for the hotel room door. She was going to go back to the room she shared with her husband and pack her and her daughter's things. If he didn't want to include her, since he was ignoring her when it came to the plan they were making at the moment as well, then there was no reason for her to be around at all.

Stephanie was in the hotel room and she had finished packing her daughters' things all up and had started on her own when she heard the door open. She frowned because she knew that Paul hadn't noticed her leaving and she also knew that he would have called the room first to make sure she was there and not done getting something to eat downstairs. She was worried that someone else had entered the room, especially since the 'Do Not Disturb" sign was on the door. There was no way it was the hotel staff entering the room. She peeked out of the bedroom and noticed the woman from last night and she was with a male that Stephanie didn't recognize. She began to panic and slowly made her way from the door to the bathroom. She picked Aurora's seat up on her way in there and locked herself inside. She was lucky that this hotel had phones in the bathroom, she didn't understand it but she was glad now.

She dialed the room that Paul and the whole gang was in making their plans but frowned when no one answered. She was starting to panic now. Her cell phone was in her purse in the other room and before she could dial her husband's number from the bathroom phone the bathroom door was kicked in and the man stood there with the woman. Stephanie covered her baby daughter with her own body and closed her eyes as the pain overwhelmed her.

* * *

Paul was beyond furious as he headed back towards the room. They had all finally noticed Stephanie had taken Aurora and left and they figured she might have gotten hungry and decided that she wanted to eat something. When she didn't answer her cell phone they had all headed downstairs and looked around for her, but there was no sign of her. Now some of them had left the hotel to go and check out her favorite places in the city and he was heading back to the room to see if she left any clues there. When he got to the room he heard crying from inside, the cries of his infant daughter. He immediately entered the room and saw that it looked like a tornado had hit. He noticed all his daughters things had been packed in her suitcases and he frowned, then he noticed it appeared Stephanie had started packing her things, she had apparently decided to leave him. He sighed and wondered why she wasn't taking care of their daughter, and he wondered where Aurora was. He finally tracked the crying to the bathroom and figured Stephanie must be in there as well. He pushed the door open and his eyes went wide as he saw the blood pooling around his wife's head as she laid half on top of the car seat that held their daughter and half off. It was clear she had been shielding their daughter with her own body, and she had paid the price.

Paul ran to the bedroom phone and called the front desk and asked for an ambulance, he explained that someone had attacked his wife and there was a lot of blood and she wasn't moving. He then dropped the phone and headed back into the bathroom and with shaking hands he checked her pulse to make sure that someone hadn't taken her away from him forever. She had a pulse and he was thrilled to feel it but he was worried, she had lost a lot of blood and it was apparent that her pulse was getting weaker and her breathing was shallow.

"Baby, hang in there. Don't you dare leave me, baby." Paul said as he cuddled his unconscious wife close to him. He used his foot to rock the car seat and Aurora slightly calmed down, but she was still upset. Paul figured she was most likely hungry.

A couple hours later Paul was sitting in the hospital next to his wife's unconscious form. Aurora was fast asleep in her car seat and Paul wasn't sure what to do at this point. They had found major injuries on Stephanie and no one was sure who had done it. The police had managed to pull security camera footage from the hallway and showed pictures of two people entering the room, a man and a woman. Paul had decided not to lie to the police and had ID'd the woman right away. He had even explained that the woman had broken into their room the night before and attacked Stephanie while she had been sleeping. Paul had, had to physically pull the woman off his wife and they had called security and it had taken two hours to get the woman away. The police promised to let them know when they picked her up, although they wanted to know if he was having an affair with the woman. Paul and said no way, he hadn't seen the woman in over a year before last night. Now he was staring at his wife lying in the hospital bed with severe injuries and he was worried she wouldn't make it. He was wondering why she was packing her and Aurora's bags? Was she going to leave him? Why would she decide to leave him now, when her life was at risk and they were so much in love? What had he done that pissed her off so badly? Paul was determined to sit tight until she woke up and then he would ask her himself.


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Stephanie felt like she had been hit by a train. Her body felt like it was throbbing and she was wondering what had happened. Slowly she opened her eyes and she smiled when she saw Paul sitting there. She was so glad that they were in the new story line together, then she noticed the car seat with the baby in it. She frowned, when did he have a baby? She noticed his eyes had opened and she studied him intently.

"Hey there, how are you feeling?" He asked her softly.

"I should be okay for the storyline we have at the next taping, I think. Whose kid?" She asked nodding at the car seat.

Paul looked at her as if she had grown two more heads. He slowly pulled back from her and sucked in a deep breath. "What storyline do you think we have next week?" He asked her, he figured this way he could gauge what her last memory was.

"The one where you kidnap me and we go through the drive through wedding chapel, where I end up married to you instead of Test." Stephanie said wondering why he didn't know what their script was.

"Stephanie, that was years ago." Paul told her softly.

"What? No it's supposed…" She trailed off when she realized he was serious.

"Stephanie we ended up getting married for real then, something you didn't really understand. Then we nearly got divorced when I thought you had lied to me, but the truth was you were protecting me from the knowledge that your father had killed our child. You thought we were divorced for a while but we weren't, I never filed the paperwork. We have since gotten back together and have been living as husband and wife, this is our daughter, Aurora Rose Levesque. Your father and Sable have been crossing the line, they keep trying to take us out, especially you. They are against us and our marriage and they have tried to kidnap you and Aurora. We only trust certain people." Paul told her, he was scared out of his mind. The fact that she couldn't remember their entire marriage or their daughter was really freaking him out.

"I don't remember… Why wouldn't I remember having a baby or getting married? Why can't I remember? What happened to me?' Stephanie asked starting to panic.

"You were attacked in the hotel room, one in a long line of attacks you have already been through. You must have taken a blow to the head." Paul said with a wince.

"Who attacked me?" Stephanie asked unsure of what had happened or why.

"A man and a woman. The woman had attacked you in your sleep the night before, I was there that time and got her away. You took most of the blows protecting our daughter, I found you lying half on top of her and completely unconscious." Paul explained to her.

"Why would that woman attack me? What did I do to her?" Stephanie asked really confused.

"We were apart for a long time Stephanie, a very long time. A little over a year ago, just before we got back together, before I went back into your life, I had met her. She had been obsessed with me, following me around and really inflating my ego and making me feel better about myself. After everything that had happened with you, I just thought that maybe I wasn't good enough or whatever, I didn't know that you really had been pregnant and that you pretended that you faked the pregnancy to protect me from the loss of our child. We were apart, you thought we were divorced and even though I knew we weren't, we were acting like we weren't together. I never slept with her, I only went out on a couple of dates before I realized she had this whole 'Fatal Attraction' thing about her. I got a restraining order and she was told to stay away. I guess the announcement of our marriage and the birth of our daughter must have set her off. I don't know who the man is, I swear him I don't know." Paul said, hoping she would believe him. The fact that she didn't remember everything they had meant to each other, the fact that she couldn't remember any of their relationship or their marriage made it a toss up on how she would take the news.

"So, we are married and have been for years, but I thought we were divorced because I lied to you and hurt you, so we haven't been living together as husband and wife, until recently. Now we are acting like husband and wife and we have a daughter together and a woman you dated a couple of times, while we were still legally married but separated, tried to kill me because she wants you and she violated the restraining order you have against her?" Stephanie asked as if she was trying to get everything straight. She was rubbing her head, clearly getting a headache as she tried to force herself to remember everything that was going on.

Before Paul could answer her doctor came in the room and at the mention of amnesia he frowned and checked her pupils and then immediately he ordered a CT scan and MRI of her brain to see if everything was all right. Paul was waiting with their daughter and their friends who had all come down when he had called and told them she couldn't remember anything. Now as she was lying in the room with everyone being introduced to her and telling her what they could to try and trigger her memory. She was getting more and more confused and when the baby started crying, Paul tried to calm her but it was clear that Aurora wanted her mommy, however Paul didn't think Stephanie would want to hold her daughter.

"Let me try." Stephanie said nervously. She was apparently the little girls mother and so she figured that maybe the infant wanted to be held by her mother. Although Stephanie didn't remember her child, it didn't mean the child didn't remember her. As Paul handed her the little girl she cuddled the infant close as the little girl stopped crying and seemed content in her mothers arms. "I'm a wife and a mother? How could I not remember that? Why can't I remember everything? My father is apparently trying to kill me and take my child, and I am married with a daughter and I can't remember anything at all. I have lost so much, what if I can't ever remember?" Stephanie asked with tears in her eyes. She held on tightly to her daughter and wondered if she would always be lost when it came to her daughter and her marriage to Paul. Would she ever remember anything?


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Stephanie was sitting on the couch in the hotel room. She was not clear to wrestle and she wasn't allowed anywhere near the arena, for fear someone would ignore her doctors order and try and take her out or get her to wrestle. Also, to make sure Vince and Sable couldn't try anything, a legal federal restraining order was filed, this meant no matter where they went in the entire country, Vince and Sable could not get near them or contact them in anyway at all. Stephanie looked over and smiled at Jillian, who had volunteered to stay behind at the hotel with Stephanie and help her with the baby. Stephanie was going to be taking care of the baby on her own for the first time since her accident. Jillian had been ordered to let Stephanie do it and only step in when she really needed the help.

The fact was, she still couldn't remember much but she wanted to be a wife and a mother, since it was apparent that was what her life consisted of at the moment. As Stephanie struggled with trying so hard to be a mommy and a wife and try to get her brain to remember everything about her previous life, she was also being told how things had gone down with her dad, and she watched all the back shows of RAW and Smackdown as well as the pay per views, and she had not seen any of that coming at all.

She looked up as she heard someone walking into the hotel room they were currently checked into, since Paul still had to work and wrestle and that meant they still went on the rotation tour. The good thing, however, was that they could go home in between tapings and that would mean sleeping in their own beds and just being with their daughter in their own home. When she saw Paul standing there, looking exhausted and with a bandage on his forehead, she frowned. She knew she hated it when he got hurt, even if it was just a small thing or whatever, it always bothered her.

"Hey, how is my little princess doing?" Paul asked, his face lighting up at the sight of his daughter.

Ever since Stephanie had been released from the hospital, things had been different for them. It had been three months since she had been injured and lost her memory and since her brain wasn't healing right and her memory wasn't returning, she was not allowed in the arena, her neurologist wasn't having it and neither was her husband and friends. They all wanted her to work on relaxing and healing her head injury, hoping that with plenty of rest that her brain might heal and her memory would return to her.

"She's fine." Stephanie said evenly as he took Aurora from her arms and then walked away from her. It was always the same thing. He was treating her differently now, almost like since she couldn't remember anything he didn't feel like they belonged together anymore or whatever. He was ignoring her a lot and making her life miserable. But since she couldn't remember things there was no way that she could leave him, no way she could make him see he was hurting her. She had decided earlier that a discussion was needed, because if things didn't change soon, then there was a real divorce in their future and who knew what was going to happen when it came to their daughter.

Paul took Aurora and settled her in her crib, since it was late and time for her to go to sleep. Stephanie always kept Aurora up for Paul to say good night to and put to bed, something he always appreciated. As he picked up the phone and ordered room service, as was their nightly routine. As they were sitting there and eating it a few minutes later, she had, had enough.

"Are you ever going to actually talk to me and treat me like your wife again or is it going to be like this forever? If it is, then I am not staying here, I will get a divorce Paul, I am not kidding around." Stephanie said as she dropped her fork and crossed her arms in front of her.

"I don't know how to treat you right now. You can't remember our wedding, you can't remember making love with me, you can't remember getting pregnant with Aurora, you can't remember being pregnant or our trip to Hawaii, you don't remember giving birth and so I don't know what to do at this point. I keep thinking I failed you because we got into a huge fight before you were attacked and it was my fault and now you remember nothing." Paul said also setting his fork down.

"So then show me. Show me how we made our daughter, show me what I don't remember." Stephanie said softly.

"Are you sure?" Paul asked nervously.

"Sure enough to know that we have a daughter that is apparently nearing her first birthday and I can't remember even giving birth to her, and I don't know what to do. I want to remember everything about our life and about our daughter and if I can't then maybe you should show me what I have locked away somewhere in my head.' Stephanie said as she got up and walked around the table, straddling his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck, nervous because she didn't know what was about to happen.

"Then it would be my pleasure." Paul said with a grin as he got to his feet, holding tightly to his wife and carrying her to their bedroom area.

The next morning Stephanie was sitting there feeding their daughter when she heard someone shouting out in the hallway. She frowned and set Aurora in the small gated area that Paul had created where their daughters toys were. As Stephanie tightened her robe and made sure that the sleep shorts and cami shirt that were underneath the robe were covered and she opened the door, tucking the key to the room into her robe pocket in case that she accidentally closed the door and needed to unlock it.

"Well look who it is." A female said before grabbing Stephanie and slamming her head into the wall.

As Stephanie went to the ground she heard shouting from security and suddenly she saw two people getting arrested and her mind was spinning as she went out cold, before she lost it she asked them to get her baby girl out of the room, her baby was alone in the hotel room, she wanted her daughter.

As Stephanie woke up a little later she was back in the emergency room and she noticed Paul sitting there playing with Aurora who was giggling.

"When did she get that big?" Stephanie asked confused. "She is only a few months old."

"No, baby, remember she is going to be one real soon." Paul said and then he broke out in a grin. "You got your memory back but you can't remember the few months of time where your memory was gone?"

"I lost my memory?" Stephanie asked, her eyes going wide.

"Yes, but don't worry, we didn't use protection last night when we made love, I am sure that we could have conceived baby number two." Paul said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"Who did this to me and why?" Stephanie asked her husband, very serious.

"Um…" Paul trailed off, not wanting to answer her question, not one bit.


	45. Chapter 45

Authors Note: Thanx everyone for reading and reviewing! I am sry it has taken so long to update but I am battling health issues and we are now moving so... I am going to try harder to get you updates faster, I will try for once a week but there are no gurantees because I am getting ready to be tested for Bone Cancer, which if it comes back positive I will need a bone marrow transplant, yuck. So please keep reading and reviewing, at least in my writing world I know I am doing something that lets people enjoy the stories in my head.

Thx Fans!

Krissy

* * *

Chapter 45

Stephanie was in shock as she listened to everything that Paul was telling her about this young woman who claimed to be in love with him and had brought in someone to help her try and win him back. She could tell he felt guilty about what had happened to her and nothing she said seemed to get through to him. He was feeling like he was the reason she was lying in that bed, yet again, and so he was going to take the weight of the whole thing on his own shoulders. Stephanie opened her mouth to say something when he shook his head and continued talking about the woman and why she felt like she was better match for him, than Stephanie was.

"Paul, let me say something here please." Stephanie said with a patient smile on her face.

"What?" He asked her nervously. He was wondering if she was going to say that she wanted out of the marriage because of this whole thing, he was scared he was going to lose his wife and daughter. They were his whole world, and he would do anything for them.

"Stop blaming yourself for something that evil person did." Stephanie said with a sigh. "Honey, this isn't your fault and I hate seeing that look in your eyes as you look at me. I know that you would never ever let someone hurt me if you could stop it. I just want you to stop blaming yourself for something that isn't your fault at all."

"I will try my hardest, does that count?" Paul asked her, with a small smile appearing on his face.

"It's a start." Stephanie said with a grin of her own.

Stephanie only stayed in the hospital overnight and now they were sitting in their own living room after being released from the hospital and catching a flight back home. Since Stephanie was once again injured because of an attack, Paul was given some time off of work and they were planning on just being together at home and being a family. Neither one of them really cared about what her family was thinking or what anyone was thinking about them at this point. Neither one of them knew what had happened to the people that attacked Stephanie, because it was kept a secret where the woman and her companion were taken and what they were charged with. Stephanie would have to wait until the trial started to see them again and to see if they were convicted and sentenced or set free.

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Paul asked as they were cuddled together on the couch.

Stephanie glanced over at the playpen where Aurora was currently sitting down and playing with her toys, happily sucking away on her pacifier. "I was thinking about how it was going to suck to go to that trial. I wish they would just take the plea bargain that the prosecuting attorney offered them. I don't really want to face them in court."

"I know honey, but you know that I will be there for you always." Paul told her as he leaned over and kissed her on the lips.

"We need to get her down for her nap." Stephanie said with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Hmm… when we get her to take her nap, I think mommy and daddy need to take their own nap as well." Paul said, his own grin rising onto his face.

* * *

Vince was angry, he was angrier than he had ever been in his whole entire life. He knew that his daughter thought she was outsmarting him, getting that restraining order, but she was only going to pay worse for this. A quick glance over to where the window was in the front room of his house, confirmed that Sable was staring out the window again, anger written all over her face. Sable had been planning things out to bring Aurora here, to the McMahon mansion and make sure she was raised the right and proper way, but that restraining order also had grounds that he was not allowed near Aurora, citing the attempted kidnapping as the reason for the denial.

"Vince, we need to find out what we can do to get even with the daughter of yours, because as far as I am concerned she has crossed a major line getting that restraining order, that was humiliating to be served with that thing right in front of all our friends." Sable snapped at him suddenly.

"I know that, you think I am not just as pissed off as you are?" Vince snapped right back at her. He was starting to get tired of Sable, which was the whole reason he was reluctant to get his attorney's on battling the order of protection, because there was something about the current woman in his life that was starting to really get on his last nerve.

"Well then, call your attorney's and have them get to work on getting that order dismissed and while they are at it, have them draw up custody paperwork for you. I have no rights to Aurora, but you do. If you want to raise that little girl, and make sure that her mother and father can't mess her up, then you need to take care of all of this right now." Sable said, pushing him verbally as she walked over and started rubbing against him.

Vince realized immediately that the feelings he used to get when she did that, weren't there. It appeared that Sable was now on her way out, which was a stupid time for this to happen, because he couldn't risk taking that little girl away from her parents and having Sable get involved in this whole thing.

* * *

Stephanie was laughing as she finished cooking dinner and dessert. Paul had smelt the cake she had baked and now he was drooling and begging to be able to eat a slice of the cake early. Stephanie knew that her husband was trying to make it clear, he loved it when she played housewife and it was also something that Stephanie enjoyed. Stephanie knew that if he could have his way, Paul would leave her at home, barefoot and pregnant, if he could. She knew that he would understand though, that wrestling was just as much a part of her as it was a part of him.

"So, we need to talk about something important baby." Paul said as his nerves kicked in all of a sudden.

"What do we need to talk about?" Stephanie asked him as she started to frost the newly cooled down cake.

"I mentioned this when you lost your memory but I think it went right over your head and so I figured I needed to make sure you knew what was going on in my head. We made love, when you didn't have your memory and we didn't use protection. I know there is a huge chance that you are currently conceiving our second child right now." Paul said and then he studied her face, waiting for her reaction. He was really curious, would she be happy about this? Or would Stephanie be so angry and hurt that she would walk away from him and take the kids that they had created together out of love?


	46. Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Stephanie was sitting carefully up in bed after a long day. She wasn't sure how she was feeling at this moment in time but she had told Paul they would deal with any situation that happened when they had to deal with it. There was a chance they hadn't made another baby and so getting all panicked and angry about something that may or may not happen was stupid in her opinion. At the moment she was still awake though, still wondering what she was going to say if she turned up pregnant with their second child. She knew she still had a couple of weeks before she would even have a chance to find out if there was a baby in her belly again, but right now she was trying to think about whether or not she was ready to be carrying a second child.

Stephanie looked over and saw her husband was out like a light, completely unaware of the fact that she was trying to deal with the new she had been told when she had been getting their dinner ready. She placed a hand on her flat stomach and rubbed it lightly, picturing another little baby Levesque growing in there and a smile broke out on her face and she realized right then and there, that she wanted there to be another baby just as much as Paul had admitted to her he did. He had informed her that he was hoping that even if there wasn't a baby in there, that she would agree with him that they should try to start working harder on making another baby. Stephanie looked at the picture of Aurora and wondered what it would be like to have kids so close in age growing up together. She knew she wanted a lot of kids, she had always wanted a big family, something that was important to her since she and Shane had been the only kids in their family. She wanted her daughters to have sisters and she wanted her sons to have brothers, that way they would always have someone they could confide in, if they couldn't confide in their parents.

"Hey why are you still awake?" Paul asked her sleepily as he sat up and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I was just thinking is all." Stephanie told him with a grin on her face.

"Is it about what I mentioned downstairs earlier?" Paul asked getting nervous. He was beginning to wonder if it was finally hitting her and she was getting mad about it.

"Yes. I was thinking that I agree with you. If you want to keep working on baby number two, then I am totally game, but first we should see if I am already pregnant so we should wait till we know one way or the other." Stephanie said and when she saw the slow grin that broke out on her husbands face she knew she had made the right call.

"Steph, baby, you don't know how happy I am to hear those words come out of your mouth." Paul said as he pulled her close and kissed her hard and deep on the mouth.

* * *

Vince was pacing in his office as he looked up when his son entered his office. He knew that Shane was angry with him, but when Vince had informed his son that he was concerned about something bad happening to Stephanie and Aurora, Shane had rushed right over. He had known how much Shane loved his younger sister, and even more than that, Shane was totally infatuated with his baby niece. Shane was a father himself, he had two sons of his own, and when Stephanie had given birth to her daughter, Shane had been one of the first family members to start bragging about the birth and Shane always carried pictures of the happy family around, showing off Stephanie, Paul and their daughter Aurora to anyone who would listen. Shane also showed off pictures of himself with his wife and two sons, which showed how much family had become to mean to Shane as he grew older.

"What is the problem now?" Shane asked annoyed as he flopped into a chair opposite the desk his father was sitting at.

"I am pretty sure that Sable is going to hire people to either make Stephanie look like an abusive unfit mother or she is going to hire someone to kidnap Aurora, I am not sure which one she is planning on doing." Vince admitted slowly, seeing the rage that entered his sons eyes showed he had made the right call, his son would know how to protect his daughter and granddaughter because there was no way Stephanie would ever trust a word that came out of his mouth.

"Considering you were helping Sable kidnap Stephanie and Aurora not too long ago, why are you changing your tune now?" Shane asked him, suspiciously.

"I know I am not the best father in the world, and I certainly know I am not the best husband in the world, but I would never ever hurt my own kid to the degree that Sable is planning to hurt Stephanie. I am not sure, but I think Sable has had a thing for Paul for a long time now, and she is trying to come up with the best way to get her hands on the one thing she wants the most, Paul." Vince admitted with a sigh. "We both knew we were using each other. My reasons for having her around were obvious, and they made Linda jealous enough to go off on me and tell me how she was really feeling. While I wasn't sure what Sable's reason for the whole charade was." Vince said with a wince.

"So let me get this straight, you expect me to believe you ended up in bed with just about every diva that has ever gone through the doors of the WWE and that it was all because you wanted to make mom jealous?" Shane asked him shaking his head.

"Look it doesn't matter why I did what I did. I am accepting my actions as wrong and hurtful, but Shane, I can not allow that woman to ruin my daughter or get near my granddaughter and I am pretty sure that she is planning to strike soon, so tell me Shane, are you willing to trust me long enough to help me save your niece and sister, or are you deciding you don't trust me enough to believe me when I say your sister is in trouble?" Vince asked his son, and it was clear he needed an answer soon because he had a feeling Sable was about to make her move and who knew how devastating it was going to be and whether or not they would even be able to stop it.


	47. Chapter 47

Chapter 47

A month later…

Stephanie was sitting in the bathroom, alone, as she waited for the timer to go off. She hadn't told Paul that she was going to take the test, she didn't want to get his hopes up yet. Although they had talked about waiting to keep trying until whether they knew if she was already pregnant or not, they hadn't waited. So if this test came back negative, it could mean it's too early to find out cause she got pregnant later, she understood that and planned to wait till she had to tell Paul when she was testing, instead of seeing the look of disappointment on his face if the test turned out to be negative.

When the timer went off she looked at the results and compared them to the directions, she nodded her head as she realized her answer and wrapped everything up and hiding it until she could throw it away without him seeing it. She went downstairs and smiled as she saw Paul cooking breakfast with Aurora on his hip and they were chatting with each other. Aurora knew a lot of words, but she still talked in broken sentences and her conversations with Paul were always hilarious because he made up stupid stories that only a child that young would find funny. She was getting so big on them, something that often made Stephanie sad, but she was so proud at how Aurora was growing up and she loved how close Paul was with their daughter.

"Hey, what are you two talking about?" Stephanie asked softly as she tightened the belt of her robe and walked over to her husband and her daughter.

"Oh, just how much she wants a little brother or sister. Did you know she named her little sister already?" Paul asked her seriously.

"Paul." Stephanie said in a low tone.

"I am serious baby, she really did bring it up and she really did name her little sister." Paul said with a straight face. Stephanie cocked her head to the side and tried to look for his tell signs and realized he was telling her the truth.

"All right, so tell me, what is your little sisters name?" Stephanie asked her daughter.

"Emma." Aurora answered with a smile on her face.

"Hmm… how about we think about it?" Stephanie said, knowing that would make her daughter happy to think that the name she liked would be considered if they ever gave her a little sister.

"K." Aurora said and then reached her arms out to Stephanie.

Stephanie took her daughter from Paul with a smile as she then leaned in and gave her husband a kiss. She hadn't been feeling well lately, which was the reason for the pregnancy test and as she got one whiff of the eggs on the stove, she crinkled her nose. When she was carrying Aurora, just the smell off eggs would make her sick to her stomach. She managed to not run from the room and puke, knowing it would scare their daughter, but it was hard. She walked over to the table and settled her in her special high chair that was hooked to a chair at the table and would turn into a booster seat when she was old enough and big enough for it. The best thing was this was a portable one, they took it with them wherever they went on the road and when they went out to eat, so she always had her special chair, as she called it.

After placing her in the chair she walked to the fridge and got out some grapes and then poured some juice in one sippy cup and some juice in another. She placed both of them and a bowl of grapes in front of her daughter to keep her happy till breakfast was ready. Then as the eggs hit her again she slowly walked out of the kitchen, saying she was going to hop in the shower real fast and get dressed before breakfast. When she got out of the kitchen she ran upstairs and promptly threw up. She really hated this.

During breakfast it took everything for Stephanie to stay at the table, although she did decline the eggs. Finally she could tell that Paul was wondering what was going on and she opted to let him in.

"I took a test." She said softly, glancing at her daughter who was lost in her food and not paying attention to her parents.

"And?" Paul asked her, not needing her to explain what she meant.

"I'm pregnant." Stephanie said smiling. "We have to see a doctor to be sure, so we shouldn't say anything, but the test says I am."

Paul jumped up and hollered in delight before yanking Stephanie out of her chair and kissing her on the lips. He held her close and placed a hand on her flat belly. They both looked over as Aurora started to cry, clearly scared at the loud noise around her. "Princess it's all right, daddy is just happy." Paul reassured her which seemed to calm her down a little bit. He didn't want to say anything to her, just in case, but he couldn't wait till they could tell their daughter about the baby brother or sister that she might be getting.

* * *

Sable was pacing back and forth as she went over her latest plan in her head. Over the last month she had made a few weak attempts on Stephanie and Aurora, but those attempts were meant to fail, that way they would think that the people striking against them were stupid and weak, but she was anything but that. She wanted them to get lax with security, thinking they didn't need the major bodyguards or security measures. She knew that when that happened, she would have her chance at the little princess and her spoiled mother. Sable had big plans for the two females she hated more than anything and she couldn't wait for it. She was going to make sure that they paid for everything they ever did, and she was going to get Paul all to herself. She knew she could get Paul over the loss of his wife, and when Sable managed to find and rescue the little brat, she knew that she would have Paul wrapped around her finger, he would be forever grateful for the return of his daughter, and she would be the one to get the best end of things.

Sable laughed as she realized it wouldn't be soon until she would become Mrs. Levesque. She knew that it would be hard at first, he might even miss the spoiled little brat, but she would show him she was better in bed and the better woman for him. Sable even thought she might be able to get Vince and Shane to help her, or better yet some of the wrestlers who would do anything to go against Daddy's Little Princess. This was going to be really good, she laughed to herself again, glaring at the family pictures that she had managed to steal from Linda's office of the happy family. She was going to break up that happy family, and she was going to become the latest addition to it.

* * *

Authors note: Time for help folks. I need you to let me know what you want the baby to be, a boy or a girl and also give me some examples of names that you think would be cute for either, just in case. Thanks everyone and don't forget to keep reading and reviewing.


	48. Chapter 48

Authors Note: Hi Folks. Thanks for reading and reviewing. I wanted to let you know that I just suffered a devastating loss. My Great Grandmother passed away at 4am on Oct 24th and it is something that is hitting me hard. I have been so close to her since I was a child and it is going to be hard to handle this. I am asking you to please be kind with your reviews for now. If something doesn't make sense, please send me a Private Message to ask about it and I will send you an answer explaining whatever is confusing or answering your question. I will try and keep updating as fast as I can, but remember the more kind reviews I get the faster I usually want to update.

Folks I really do need your advice. Do you want the new baby to be a girl or a boy? What name would you like? Please give me a name suggestion for both boys and girls, and I will eventually put together a final pull. You can even send me a Private Message with the names or vote if you would rather. Thanks again folks.

Kris

* * *

Chapter 48

Stephanie was curious about what she was going to say as she and Paul left the doctors office together. Stephanie now knew she was indeed pregnant and since it was so early, they could only do an internal ultrasound. Paul was staring at the little blob, the little unformed emreyo that was going to grow into their child. Paul was giddy and begging to be able to call the members of the new DX, to let them know that another little DX member was coming into the world. Stephanie smiled, realizing that her husband was so happy and that he was desperate for this baby. Stephanie, on the other hand, was concerned about the baby and about being pregnant at the moment. She knew there was a chance that there could be problems, that Sable may jump into the equation, where she wasn't welcome.

"Hey baby, what are you thinking about?" Paul asked her, stopping them next to their car in the parking lot and pulled her into his arms tightly. He knew that she was worried about something but he wasn't all that sure what it could be that she was freaking about.

"I am thinking that someone is going to attack and soon. Someone is going to try and tear our family apart, I can feel it Paul, and it scares me because I can't raise two kids without you and I can't lose my kids either." Stephanie said, tears falling from her eyes.

Paul stared at her in shock, he couldn't believe this was what was going through her head, because he had never ever thought about leaving his wife. He would never take the kids away from her and he knew he would never force her to raise them alone if something did happen between them. He knew one of her biggest fears was going through this pregnancy alone, and that was something he had to make sure she understood wasn't going to happen. He couldn't bring her in on tour because of the baby she was carrying, all the times she had been brutally attacked and that scared him more than anything in the world, he couldn't stand the thought she might lose their new child, the one that was supposed to be well protected by Stephanie because the little one was still inside of her and that made the baby her responsibility.

"Hey, listen to me honey, we are a team and that means that as a team we work together. I am not letting anything happen to you, or our kids. I will not walk away from you or our kids. I will not make you raise our two babies on your own, ever. And I certainly will never ever take our kids away from you, Aurora, the baby inside of you right now and the babies I plan to put inside of you in the future." Paul said as he leaned in and nipped at her ear and then licked the skin behind her ear. He smiled as she felt the shiver and watched as her body shook a little bit and then he pulled back and saw the smile on her face.

"You know that isn't fair baby." Stephanie said with a grin.

"What isn't fair? Kissing my beautiful, sexy, gorgeous wife? Holding onto the woman who has held my heart since the day we met? Holding onto the woman I know I can never ever live without and know that she will always be the woman in my dreams and the only woman I want to share a bed with and my future with? You are everything to me Stephanie, you will always be everything to me. When we were apart, when I thought you had betrayed me, I never divorced you because I knew that I could not survive without you. Now that I know you have never betrayed me, that it was me and your father that betrayed you, it kills me and I will do everything in my power to make it up to you for the rest of our lives baby." Paul told her as he leaned down and kissed her on the lips again.

"Aurora is with John Cena and Jillian Hall today." Stephanie reminded him with a slow, sexy, provocative smile on her face.

"Hmmm…then I guess it means that you get to help me remember how we conceived out two babies." Paul said waggling his eyebrows and then kissing her again before opening her door and helping her inside before he shut her door and rushed around to the drivers side of the car to take her home.

* * *

Sable was angry as she watched them kiss and heard the words that left their mouths! They were going to have another baby and they were happy together! He was sorry about hurting her back then, he was sorry that he had believed she had betrayed him and now he wanted to make it up to her! Oh no, this was not how things were going to go down. She looked over at the man who was really interested in having Stephanie in his arms again, in being the man she turned to and had loads of babies with. Sable knew that he would do whatever was necessary with Aurora and now the baby Stephanie was carrying inside of her. Who knew, maybe if they split them up early enough they could cause her to miscarry by killing the baby inside of her? Or maybe, they could talk her into an abortion or bribe her doctor into performing the abortion without telling her and then informing her she had miscarried? Sable was grinning with evil malice as she thought of all the things they could do to get that baby out of Stephanie and make sure that Paul and Stephanie only had their one daughter together, and then she would be the one carrying the rest of his kids and Stephanie could carry the children of the man standing next to her, the one who was head over heels in love with her and had been for a long time.

"We are going to do this! We are going to split the two of them apart and there are ways to make sure the child she carries never is born. I am good at making sure I get my way, and I will get my way this time!" Sable snarled out as she saw the man shaking his head, almost like he was resigned to backing off for now. "We will make sure that she is yours and then he will be mine! We can figure out how to handle Aurora much later on."

"I hope you're right, because I love her and always have. I just believe we should let her have the child, I don't want her hurt more than she has to be Sable. If we kill her child or make it seem like she lost it, it will destroy her and if that happens, make no mistake, I will take you down hard!" He snapped at her. "Let her carry that baby to term!"

"Fine, but we are still breaking them up before that happens." Sable said shrugging her shoulders and then they got into the car that they had arrived in. They were going to do this, and they were going to get their way, and there was nothing Stephanie or Paul, or anyone close to them, could do about it!


	49. Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Stephanie was sitting in the living room and watching Aurora play with her toys. She smiled as she rested her hand on her stomach and thought about the baby that was being created inside of her at that moment. She and Paul had tried explaining to Aurora about the fact that she was going to be a big sister and she didn't seem to understand what that meant but Stephanie knew there were books and other things out there that could help her learn how to bring Aurora through this and make sure she understood what was going on and that she didn't feel left out or unloved.

Paul had gone on tour recently and so Stephanie was a little nervous about being home without him. She didn't know what was going to happen but she knew something was. She looked up as someone knocked on the door and she slowly walked over there, weary about who would be at the house at that moment. She smiled when she saw Shane and her mom standing there.

"Hey." she said as she hugged the both of them.

"How are you feeling?" Linda asked her with a smile as she looked over and saw Aurora playing with her toys.

"Nervous and worried. I know that someone is going to try something and I have no idea what it will be or when it will be, but I am terrified that I will lose Paul." Stephanie said softly.

"Dad told me he is worried that Sable may try something. He is a little worried about what she may do to you and Aurora and since that is his granddaughter, he doesn't want anything to happen to her or to you." Shane spoke up softly. "He wants to come up with a plan that will ensure that whatever she tries, she has no chance of winning."

"If you don't know what she is going to do, then how can you counter her plan?" Stephanie asked, her worst fear coming out then.

"Stephanie, I think this time your father knows that he messed up, and he wants to fix his mistake. You know how he hates to admit when he is wrong and this time he is admitting it." Linda said with a smile on her face.

"I know but what if there isn't a way to stop her? What if she wins this time? What if I lose everything that I love and that means so much to me?" Stephanie asked with tears in her eyes.

"We won't let that happen sis." Shane said as he hugged his sister tightly. He knew this was a bad situation and he hated more than anything that she was being dragged through it.

* * *

He was sitting there and staring at Sable. As much as he loved Stephanie and wanted to be with her, he didn't want to hurt her. As he listened to her plan and the way she was talking about ruining the marriage and lives of the two people that they supposedly both loved, it was starting to upset him. He hated that it was Paul that she had chosen. He hated that it was Paul she had married and had kids with. More than anything he hated that it was Paul she said she loved and wanted to spend the rest of her life with. The more he thought about it, the more he knew she would never ever be happy with him. She would always be wanting her husband back and she would always be wondering what had happened to break up such a happy marriage. After seeing the two of them together, he now knew that everything Sable had told him about the two of them having problems and only pretending to love each other for the sake of their daughter, was a lie. He could tell that their love was very real and that was something he didn't want to interfere with. He wasn't going to say anything to Sable though, mainly because he didn't want her to find someone else to exact her plan, maybe he could find a way to stop her, or maybe if she succeeded he could find a way to be there for Stephanie for real.

* * *

Stephanie looked up as she heard the door open and saw Paul walk in. She could tell something had happened because he wasn't smiling like he normally did and she figured it was starting, whatever Sable was up to she had made the first move and Stephanie was worried that her marriage was about to become rocky.

"What's the matter?" Stephanie asked softly. She knew her voice was shaking and she felt her heart racing. She couldn't imagine not having Paul in her life, and she couldn't imagine him not being there with her as she planned Christmas or birthday parties. She couldn't imagine their kids splitting holidays and Sable actually winning her husband over.

"Sable told me that she heard you were talking to one of your ex boyfriends." Paul said with a sigh.

"And you believe her?" Stephanie asked arching an eyebrow.

"No, I know that you aren't talking to any of your exes and it wouldn't matter if you were. It's just, that now that I know she is talking about an ex boyfriend we can assume she isn't working alone on her little plan and whatever she is up to she has some help." Paul said with a sigh. "I am worried about you being pregnant and alone, if she has someone we might be trusting, helping her, that could be how she plans on making sure everything goes her way."

"So we trust no one." Stephanie said with a scared look. "Paul, promise me that no matter what is said or done, that we talk to each other and we are honest with each other and we will work through it all together."

"Stephanie, you are my wife and the mother of my kids. I learned my lesson from the last time, I was without you for a couple years because of my own stupidity of believing other people over you, and I never want to do that again." Paul told her softly as he pulled her close, realizing she was scared to death that she was going to lose him again and this time there was more than just the two of them.

* * *

Sable was getting everything ready. It wasn't going to be long now, and she would be the one living in that house with Paul and they were going to be happy together. She was going to win and she was going to make sure that she was going to be the new Mrs. Paul Levesque and there was nothing Stephanie could do about it.


	50. Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Stephanie was nervous as she sat up and stared out the window of the kitchen. She was sipping some tea and she knew she should be in bed, trying to get some sleep, but she couldn't. She glanced at the clock and saw she had been up for three hours now and it was 2AM. She turned back out and she noticed that there was a car that was sitting there and it looked like someone was sitting inside of it. She noted the license plate to memory and she watched as the person turned and met her eyes and she gasped, dropping the mug into the sink and the smug look the man sent to her had her placing a hand on her abdomen to protect her unborn child and another hand going to her chest, trying to still her racing heart. She heard Paul running through the house and into the kitchen, probably reacting to the broken glass she had dropped but she didn't turn her gaze away.

"Babe, what's the matter?" Paul asked, still half out of it.

"That man…" She said, her voice was shaking as she continued staring at the man who suddenly lifted something from the seat. She saw the glint and when she saw the barrel of the gun, she realized Paul had seen it as well.

"Steph, get down!" Paul shouted as the man fired and the bullet flew into the kitchen.

* * *

Shane was pacing back and forth in the lobby of the hospital, not sure who he was more worried about, his little sister or his friend, her husband. He looked over where his mother was sitting, playing with Aurora and his father was pacing in anger. He couldn't believe that Sable would go this far. Stephanie had been conscious when cops had gotten there, after a neighbor had called police. After begging them to protect her little girl, and begging them to call her mother to be with her baby girl, she had told them a license plate and described the shooter to the police who picked him up trying to cross the border into another county. He confessed, singing like a songbird when he learned that the woman he shot was pregnant and he had also shot the man, he knew he was in deep trouble, especially with her still being alive and describing him and his car and license plate right away.

When they had learned Sable had hired him right away, the police had been shocked but Shane had known that, that woman had been capable of doing anything, and now both Stephanie and Paul were fighting to survive after suffering major gunshot wounds, and not only did they have that wound, but the exploding glass had done damage and the major fall to the ground had done it's own damage. No one would know just how bad their injuries would be until after their surgeries and they were stabilized. They had one of their larger, private VIP rooms ready to put the two of them in, together, since they were husband and wife and they figured it would allow them to heal so much faster. They were also aware that the family wanted to be able to keep their daughter in the room with her parents, hoping it would give them the reason to fight and recover much faster.

"What if she lost that baby? Oh they had been through way too much, if she loses that little baby she will never be all right again." Linda said as she stroked some of Aurora's curls behind her ears.

"Stephanie is a fighter, and she lost her first baby, she knows how to fight back from it, but it did nearly destroy her the first time, it might do some damage this time." Shane said with a wince, knowing how it had destroyed Stephanie when Vince had managed to cause the first miscarriage and at that time she had also lost Paul, so hopefully having their daughter and having Paul at her side, it might help her through it if she did end up losing this new baby.

"She always has to be the target of something, why can't they just let them be happy?" Linda asked, wanting to scream and cry for her little girl but knowing it would do them no good.

* * *

Shawn was sitting in the room with all of the DX members. He wasn't sure how he was going to tell them that Sable had finally managed to find a way to take out Stephanie, and it was in a really bad way. He bit his lip and studied the laughter and smiles on the faces all around him and finally realized he couldn't put it off for much longer.

"Hey everyone, I need you to listen up." Shawn said and he waited for everyone to shut up before he took a deep breath and got ready to deliver the news that he was still having trouble excepting. "Early this morning Sable had a hired man sit outside Paul and Stephanie's place, he opened fire with a gun and shot them through their kitchen window, both of them are in surgery at their local hospital and the gun man is in custody and gave up Sable without any problems. From everything else I heard, there is also another person who is more than willing to help the cops nail her for all of her plans against Stephanie and Paul but they still don't know if the two of them are going to both pull through. When they are out of surgery they are going to be put into the same room, I plan to sit on it to make sure nothing else happens." Shawn announced.

"What about the baby?" Jillian asked softly.

"No one knows about the baby or anything else right now. We have no idea how bad this is or how bad their injuries or the damage is, they won't know until they regain consciousness." Shawn informed them.

"Then we all sit on that hospital, we all protect them. We should have the baby staying in that room too, to keep her safe and because you know the two of them will need her nearby to get through this." Cena spoke up as he leaned against the wall.

"Yeah!" Everyone shouted together.

* * *

Shane looked up as the main surgeon started walking towards him, and all he could think of was that he could be getting really bad news, real soon. He may lose his sister and if he lost both his sister and Paul he didn't know what he would tell his little niece, because there was no doubt she would need to know the truth about everything, and he would need to make sure she knew about the parents that loved her more than anything in this world.


	51. Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Shane was sitting in the hospital room and staring at his little sister. They had their moments where they fought and hated each other, but this was still his baby sister. He hated seeing her like this. It had been 2 weeks since the shooting had happened, and Stephanie had not opened her eyes. The doctor said it didn't have to be medical, it could be that Stephanie thought that Paul was dead and so she didn't want to open her eyes, her mind and heart were fighting her body, telling it to give up because the man she loved was gone, even though Paul wasn't dead. Shane told his little sister that often, but until she heard Paul's voice she wouldn't believe it, and at the moment that was impossible because he was still on a ventilator, just like Stephanie. Paul was also in the Intensive Care Unit. Shane knew that everyone was worried about the couple, especially since little Aurora wanted her mommy and daddy badly. The little girl was screaming every night she was laid in her crib for her mommy and daddy. She wanted her special story or her special blanket.

Their mother was currently watching her little granddaughter, well her only granddaughter since Shane only had boys with his wife. Linda said she didn't have a problem with keeping an eye on her, but she wanted to make sure that her daughter and son-in-law were well protected at all times. Nobody knew what was going to happen next, but Sable was in custody at the moment and she was not happy at all to be in the jail on lock up and charges of murder for hire and conspiracy to commit Capitol Murder. Shane was glad this was one situation that conniving little scumbag couldn't use her looks to get her out of trouble, she was being held in a place where all female, married, guards were working and there was constant vigilance and they weren't allowed to communicate with the prisoner. If she tried to talk to them they were to give her warnings and if she didn't listen, she got pepper sprayed, which satisfied Shane to no end because he knew she wouldn't listen, so he was wondering how many times she got sprayed. That stuff burned and it hurt, he was glad she was the one suffering, even if his sister and brother-in-law were also suffering.

* * *

Stephanie could hear her brother talking to her, telling her everything was fine and that she needed to fight back and come back to them. She heard him talking about how Paul was in another room and if she woke up and started working towards not being too sick and dependent on the machines then both she and Paul would be moved to a special room that was built for husbands and wifes to be able to share a room and a bed and be comfortable together at all times. They had learned it actually speeds up the healing process because both of them are more comfortable and encourage each other, they don't wear themselves out attempting to get to their spouses room to visit, because they are always together, always working together and making sure neither gives up.

Stephanie could hear Shane explaining everything, but it didn't matter. She had seen the bullet shatter the kitchen window, see the first bullet rip into her husband and the second hit her, mainly because her husband had already hit the floor, unable to protect her any longer but it didn't matter to Stephanie because she didn't think she would be okay if Paul wasn't around to help her. She wasn't sure how she would handle being pregnant and caring for their daughter.

Stephanie sighed inside of her mind. She knew that Shane had to be lying about her husband being alive and in another room, but it didn't matter. She was a mother and as much as she hated the thought of not seeing her husband alive ever again, he had to get back to reality, for her daughter. Then her mind went into full blown panic mode, is her unborn child still alive? Did she lose her poor innocent baby that was depending on her to keep it safe and alive? She was replaying every conversation she had heard from her brother, and even the ones she overheard between everyone who had ever been in her room, not once did she hear anything about the innocent child that was growing in her womb. If she had lost Paul, she needed that child, because somewhere inside of her, she knew it was a little boy she was carrying and she wanted her to make sure that little boy survived, another small piece of the man she had probably gotten killed.

* * *

Paul was sighing as he took a long sip of water. The tube had finally been removed from his throat. He was waiting for the stupid wheelchair so he could talk to Steph, make her open those beautiful eyes of hers and make her realize that they were all right and everything was going to be all right. The doctor didn't like the idea of moving Paul into the room in a wheelchair, but they had no choice. If he got Stephanie to wake up then they would be moved to that husband and wife room and he needed that, he needed to lay in the same bed as his wife every night and he needed, more than anything, to know she was all right.

Paul sighed again, this time in relief, as a wheelchair entered the room, being pushed by Shawn. Paul slipped into the chair and nodded as they headed down the hall to his wife's room. As he was pushed in, he felt like screaming out in rage. Stephanie was so pale, a tube in her mouth, down her throat, was pumping air into her lungs. He also noticed the tell tale bump on Stephanie's abdomen showed where their child was growing, and the monitor that was there was showing them all that their baby was alive and still kicking, a fighter just like his mama and his papa. Paul motioned Shane out of the way and Shane moved the chair he had been sitting in. Shawn moved the wheelchair so Paul was right there, where he could touch her, and he locked the wheels before leaving the room with Shane, giving them some privacy.

"Hey there baby." Paul whispered in her ear, leaning down and clasping her hand tightly. "I believe it's time for you to wake up so they can put us in the same room and I can make sure you are getting better. We have to get better for the baby inside of you and our princess at home. Please Steph, please come back to me."


	52. Chapter 52

Chapter52

Stephanie knew she had to be imagining things, there was no way that was Paul talking to her, there was no way her husband was in the room touching her, holding her hand. He couldn't be there because he was dead! He was dead and she was the reason that he was dead! She loved him and she had brought him back into their life, as he had learned about everything, about the truth of all that had happened between her father and herself back when she and Paul had first gotten married. He had learned about the loss of their first child, the baby that no one really knew about and everyone had thought she had been lying about and that had nearly cost her everything. Now she was lying in a hospital, a tube down her throat and someone trying to convince her that her husband had not been killed when she knew he was dead! She hated when people tried to con her into believing something. It didn't matter though, she knew she still needed to wake up, she still had a little girl that needed her mommy, even if her mommy was the reasons he would never have her daddy.

* * *

Paul could tell that his wife was battling with herself in her mind. He could always tell when there was some sort of inner war going on inside of Stephanie and this time it was no different. He let his gaze drift down to her baby bump and let his hand go there to slightly rub where their little one was growing, he couldn't believe they were having a second child and that baby was all right, that baby was safe despite what Sable had managed to have done and what had nearly happened to them. The thought that they could have lost that child, that he could have lost Stephanie, it was killing him because there was no guarantee he was going to get his wife back, because at the moment she was refusing to face reality, she couldn't face reality and she didn't believe that everything was going to be all right, if she just opened her eyes and saw that.

"Baby listen to me, you need to open your eyes so that you can see that everything is going to be just fine." Paul murmured as he let his lips stay close to her ear. "Baby, open your eyes." He murmured again.

* * *

Shane was leaning against the wall just outside but near the door, he needed to be close in case his brother in law needed him or Stephanie woke up. He could hear the pain and the pleading in Paul's voice and it was killing him to know that the superstar wrestler was not going to be able to handle it if Stephanie was unable to open her eyes, ever again. There was a possibility that Stephanie would remain unconscious for a very long time, possibly years, because of the mental block she had placed on everything. His little sister had been through way too much in her life and the strain that had been on her marriage with the threat to her life and the life of their children, that was causing more pain inside his sister than she let on to anyone else. Now she was unable to open her eyes, because she believed she had gotten her husband and possibly her unborn child killed and there was nothing anyone could do or say that would reassure her.

"Come on little sister, you can beat this, you always beat everything." Shane murmured as he glanced into the hospital room again, just in time to see Paul lean back in his wheelchair. He could tell Paul was lost and didn't know what to do for his wife, he didn't know how to bring her out of this one.

* * *

Stephanie was struggling to open her eyes but something was still holding her back and refusing to allow her to open her eyes. She wanted to confront the man that thought he could pretend to be her husband and she wanted to push his hand off her stomach, only Paul was allowed to touch her belly like that and only while she was carrying their child, she didn't think there was a baby in there anymore, and that was hurting her as well. But she knew she had to fight back, she was a McMahon, well a Levesque now as well, and that meant she was a fighter, so why couldn't she sight back from this thing? Why did it seem like her mind was stuck and there was nothing she could do to bring it back from this?

* * *

Paul was glad that he could see the inner war still raging inside his wife, that meant she was trying to come back to them, it meant she hadn't given up. He just didn't know what he could do to help her in this. He needed to find a way to help her fight back, a way to bring her back from wherever she was mentally stuck at. He knew there was a reason she couldn't break whatever barrier she and built up when she had thought he had been killed in their kitchen, there was a big reason, her heart couldn't bear the pain of having her officially hear he was dead and that was the reason her mind was being held back from allowing her out of the dark space she had built in her own mind.

"Steph, I don't know what I need to do to bring you back to me baby." Paul murmured as he felt tears enter his eyes. "I haven't seen our little princess yet, I know she is probably scared out of her mind, but I wanted us to see her together. I won't wait much longer though, she misses us too much and I can't keep her away from me much longer my love."

* * *

Stephanie wanted to yell at this man that he wasn't her daughters father! Paul was Aurora's father and whoever this man was he wasn't going to replace him in her daughter's life. Stephanie refused to allow anyone to replace Paul in her life or their daughter's life. She was ready to find a way through this darkness, she had to, she had to stop this man from attempting to steal their daughter, she couldn't let anyone else near their daughter. If Paul was gone, she was the only one left to protect Aurora, and that meant she really needed to fight back on this one.

* * *

"Stephanie, I am right here." Paul murmured again, he leaned over and suddenly the alarms in the room started blaring, something was seriously wrong and as doctors and nurses rushed in, he was scared out of his mind that he was losing his wife, the woman he loved more than anything in this world. "Fight baby, you fight!" Paul shouted as they wheeled him out of the room and he waited with everyone else to hear what was happening now to the woman they all loved and the child she was carrying in her womb.


	53. Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Paul and Shane were once again back inside Stephanie's room and they could tell that she was still battling inside her own mind. Neither of them were sure what they could do for her at this point. Paul was holding on tightly to her hand and had his other hand resting protectively on her abdomen. The doctors were thinking the best they could hope for was that she would make herself hang on till the baby was ready to be born before she died, but they weren't sure what was wrong. Paul and Shane both knew what was wrong, she was scared and she thought that Paul was dead. Suddenly Paul looked up at Shane and thought of something that might be able to work.

"Bring her our little girl." Paul said evenly, thinking that if she thought he was dead then she might respond to having their daughter there.

"All right then, that might actually work." Shane said as he got up and left the room. Aurora was in the waiting room at the moment, but she wouldn't be for much longer, they weren't going to let her sleep in the hospital room until Stephanie was awake, but if there was a chance that having her in the room might make things better for Steph, then they would keep her close by.

Paul was glancing between his unconscious wife and the door, he had yet to see his daughter since the shooting and so he knew she was probably going to go crazy at the sight of her father. Sure enough as soon as Shane walked into the room holding his niece in his arms, she started squealing and reaching her arms out towards Paul.

"Dada!" Aurora shouted as she saw her daddy.

"Hey princess." Paul said smiling as he let go of his wife, reluctantly, and took his little girl from his brother in law. "How are you doing sweetie?"

"Wuv." Aurora said as she gave him a wet baby kiss on the cheek.

Paul laughed and had to admit holding her in his arms made everything seem all better. He watched her as she saw her mommy lying on the bed and knew that she was confused about what was going on. "Mommy has an owie." He tried to explain but he could tell that wasn't getting through. Suddenly she tried to lunge out of his arms and towards the bed to see her mommy. "Baby, mommy can't hold you, she's not awake."

"Mama!" Aurora said as she tried to lunge again for her mother.

"Baby…" Paul sighed and then scooted closer to the bed and gently set her next to Stephanie on the bed, watching the little girl very carefully as she reached up and lightly patted her mothers face. Paul felt a gentle tug on his heart, he couldn't believe this.

* * *

Vince felt horrible about this whole thing. He was sitting in the waiting room and he could tell that everyone around him felt like this was his fault, and he couldn't blame them. He was being horrible to his daughter and his son in law, and now he was paying for it. He never actually thought about what would happen if he ever lost his daughter. He knew that when she pulled through, because he had to believe that she was going to pull through and be all right, that he was going to have to find a way to make all of his horrible mistakes that he had, up to her. The things he had put her through, on the other hand she and Paul only got back together because of something he had been doing in the beginning of things. He wondered if they would be together now if it hadn't been for him. He looked over at everyone else that was in the room, everyone that loved Stephanie, the members of DX and so forth, and knew that when it came down to it, they were going to get revenge, no matter what at this point.

* * *

Stephanie could hear voices around her and she wanted to open her eyes, but she was too scared to. She felt the light touching on her face, felt the wet kiss against her cheek and knew her little girl was right there and she tried to fight harder. She could hear her daughter babbling to her and she could also hear other voices, male voices, murmuring to each other and to her little girl. She heard her daughter saying dada and mama, and she was confused. Paul was dead, she knew he was dead, so who was she calling dada? Stephanie was wondering if her daughter was confused or whether she just didn't know what else to call whoever was in the room. She wanted to believe with everything inside of her that Paul was alive and that he was sitting in that room right there, with her and her little girl. She wanted to believe that if she finally found a way to open her eyes then she would get to see the man who held her heart sitting in the chair next to her bed.

Paul had been her life for so long, even when they were apart he had held her heart. Through all the things that their marriage had been through, no matter what he had done to her or said about her or to her, she just never could let him go. He was her whole entire world, and she wanted to believe he was right there. She was wondering if she should just let go and open her eyes, just look over and make sure he was all right, see if he was there. If he wasn't there, she knew she would see her daughter and that had to be good enough.

Stephanie started working through the dark places in her mind. She started to work her way back to where she needed to be because she was a mother and she needed to put her daughter before herself. She hoped that when she opened her eyes she would see the two people that mattered most to her, but if she didn't at least she had her precious daughter.

* * *

Paul could see her mind working, he could tell that she was right there and she was almost coming back to him. He hoped this was working and he hoped she would open her eyes soon and she would see that everything was going to be all right, that they were going to be a family and that all of them were all right, including the child she was carrying inside of her.

"Come on baby, come back to me." Paul murmured as he continued to watch her.


	54. Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Stephanie struggled to open her eyes. She could hear voices talking to her, one of them sounded like Paul, but he was dead and therefore he couldn't be in that room trying to get her to open her eyes. She could hear the voice of her brother and she struggled even more. They were talking about her little girl, Aurora, and they were talking about the baby, her unborn child needed her to open her eyes and get better. She knew that some of what they were saying had to be lies, they just wanted her to wake up and were saying anything they could think of to get that to happen.

Stephanie continued fighting through the darkness that was overwhelming her mind, she had to wake up and protect her daughter from whoever was behind all of this. She wasn't sure how she was going to raise their daughter without her husband, but she really needed to try and soon. She could hear everyone around her, she could hear what they were saying and she knew, she knew that it was the love in her heart that would guide her home and allow her to open her eyes, just as it was the devastation over the loss of the love of her life that was keeping her in the dark. She saw the flashes in front of her of all the happy memories she had, and she felt the pain of betrayal at knowing her father had done so much damage over the years, something she didn't understand.

* * *

Paul knew that she was fighting, he could see the rapid movement behind her closed eyelids and he tried to control their daughter who wanted mommy to open her eyes and talk to her. Several times Aurora had attempted to climb on the bed to get to her mother, but Paul had to keep her off the bed because his wife was in too bad a shape to have a little one crawling all over her while she was injured and pregnant. He wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to hold onto his young daughter and stop her from crawling all over her mother.

"Stephanie if you don't open your eyes real soon, then you are going to upset your daughter and miss her because she is going to need to go home and get some rest. I won't let her sleep in this room at this hospital until you are fully awake and conscious, we need to keep her protected and she doesn't understand that you can't open your eyes right now, so do our princess a favor and wake up for us here." Paul murmured as he tried to keep his emotions in check but he could tell that his wife heard him, he could tell that she understood what he was saying. "Wake up Steph, wake up."

* * *

Shane felt like he was intruding on a private moment as he watched his brother in law attempt to get his little sister to wake up and see for herself that her family was alive and safe. He hated seeing his little sister in this condition, and knowing that part of this was his fathers fault, even if he didn't approve of this, was even harder for him to swallow. They had always known their dad had issues, and they had always hoped that one day he would see that he needed help and that he would seek out that help for whatever it was that was making him act the way he was acting, but not at the cost of his sister and his unborn niece or nephew that she was carrying.

"Come on little sister, wake up. You are killing your husband here, he misses you." Shane whispered, knowing his sister couldn't hear him.

* * *

Vince couldn't believe this was all so real, that this was really and truly happening. He hadn't really understood just how far some of the crazy younger women he dated would actually go. He had only seen what was on the outside, now caring that they were most likely heartless and greedy women. He knew that there were women in his life that were only sleeping with him or humoring him in pretending he was attractive to get to his money and to get some camera time and become famous. Over the years he had been ignoring his family when they told him that they believed he had some issues, he knew now that there was probably a problem there, but he honestly didn't care about that. He was an adult and he was the one who made the money he made, it was his money and he worked hard for it so if he wanted to go out and have fun, then he should be allowed to. This only showed him that he needed to be careful about who he chose and who he allowed near the WWE and who he allowed near his family. Even if he was angry with his estranged wife, son and daughter, it didn't mean he didn't care about his grandchildren, he would protect those grandbabies with all that he could.

"Paul should have just hired security." Vince said shrugging as he tried to justify everything he was thinking and everything he was feeling. "I don't need to feel guilty that my son in law didn't have the sense to hire bodyguards to protect himself and his family."

* * *

Stephanie knew it was getting close to being over, and the light was going to be getting closer. She needed to open her eyes and see her daughter, to protect her little girl from whoever had her at the moment and make sure that she protected the only thing she would have left of her husband. She started to open her eyes, hearing the cry from next to her bed and hearing her brother state that he was going to go and get the doctor paged and have the nurse come into the room. She struggled to get her eyes to adjust to the lights in the room and then she turned her head and her heart seemed to start to slowly heal, Paul was sitting there with their little girl on his lap and even though she could see he was injured, he was alive and that was all that she really cared about.

"You scared us all baby." Paul said as he leaned over and kissed his wife gently on the lips.

"You scared me. I was so sure that I was going to lose you forever, that you were gone. I love you so much." Stephanie said as she reached up with her hand only to frown when she was too weak to touch her husband or her daughter.

"You need to rest, just relax. You have a baby inside you to take care of as well as yourself." Paul said and the delight that crossed her features was almost like she was learning for the first time that she was carrying their second baby.

* * *

He had been hired to do a job, and he now knew that he had failed on it. Now he was going to need to do another attempt, but he couldn't do it to quickly, or else their guard would always be up and he wouldn't be able to complete his work.

"Soon I will kill those I was told to take care of, and no one will ever be the wiser. Your deaths will be celebrated forever." He said as he glared at the pictures on the walls in front of him.


	55. Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Stephanie could tell that Paul was annoyed with her, and she really couldn't blame him. The doctors had all made it clear that she needed to take it easy, stay in bed for a while and just rest letting other people take care of her, but she couldn't do that. She had a nursery to plan, things to buy for the new baby and a little girl who needed her mommy to take care of her, so she ignored all of them when they told her that she needed to stay in bed and rest, because that wasn't who she was and it wasn't something that she was willing to do unless it was absolutely necessary. The doctors hadn't said that her being up and about would harm her or the baby, so she really didn't see the harm in it. She looked over to where Paul was currently learning against the wall in the kitchen, holding their little girl in his arms and glaring at her. Stephanie had gone into the kitchen of the home they were currently staying in, because their other house was still a crime scene and it was going to need a lot of work to be repaired and then they were having security increased, so the windows and doors and everything else was being replaced with secure things and cameras and perimeter alarms were being installed in the area, to try and do some baking because it helped soothe her sometimes and because she wanted to make some new things for Aurora to try.

"Glaring at me isn't going to get me to finish sooner or go back upstairs any quicker." Stephanie informed her husband as she glared right back at him. "You could put her down and let her play and help me and then it might go faster." Stephanie suggested as she arched an eyebrow at him, almost mocking him at this point.

"Why would I do a thing like that?" Paul asked sarcastically. He had been different since the shooting at their home and Stephanie knew most of it was because he was so stressed and worried about their family. She also knew he was feeling extremely guilty, and her own father, who really was at fault for this, had managed to get inside his head and make him think it was his fault rather than Vince's.

"Why do you let him get to you?" Stephanie asked softly. She could see the pain and guilt in Paul's eyes and it was crushing her to see it there, because none of this was his fault. Stephanie had done a lot of things in the past that had hurt him, but he had never ever purposely hurt her at all. Paul was someone you could rely on, and he was so caring and protective of her already, she knew everything was about to go into overprotective mode, but she also knew she was going to have to be patient because Paul didn't want to risk Aurora's life or her and the unborn child's lives.

"I don't know." Paul admitted with a sigh. "Stephanie, the doctor asked for you to stay in bed to protect you and the baby. You are on bed rest because you almost died baby, please go back upstairs and lay down and I will bring Aurora to you to cuddle with and you two can watch movies or whatever in bed and I can take care of the two of you, like I am supposed to."

Stephanie could see her husband was at his breaking point and if she pushed him any further than she could cause some damage, he was really worried about her being on her feet after the doctors had made it clear that they wanted her to stay in bed and rest, hoping that she wouldn't have any complications or problems with this pregnancy. Sighing, Stephanie took off her apron and looked around, she made sure she had added all the ingredients and stirred the dough in the bowl until it was well mixed. "Just let me cover this and put it in the fridge and I will go back to bed, all right?" Stephanie asked softly and after seeing her husband nod his head she did exactly what she said she was going to do.

* * *

He was trying to figure out which way he wanted to do things this time. He wasn't sure if he should take his time, go slowly, and take them apart from the inside by gaining their trust and then stabbing them in the back by attacking to kill, or if he should just do it the good old fashioned way, a quick kill and a disappearance from the area. The problem was that a lot of people already knew him, and so he was going to be questioned by the cops when something happened to this family, just like it had happened with his last kills. So as he thought about it, he realized that he could make sure that he got to know them, because then if he left any evidence behind it, he could explain it away that way. He was trying to think of an approach and how he wanted to do this, the best way seemed to be to be befriend Paul first somewhere and then slowly gain Stephanie's trust and tear apart their family, before killing them all. He actually thought it might be fun to sit back and watch the fireworks as they fought with each other and possibly broke up. This could actually be very entertaining and very fun. All he had to do was come up with a plan and figure out how he was going to kill them once he was in their tight little friendship circle, because now that he had his mind made up, they weren't going to be living for much longer.

* * *

Vince was watching his son closely, he could tell that Shane was still trying to decide if he believed that his father was actually sorry for the things he had done in the past, or if he was working a new angle. Vince knew that he had no reason to be upset over the mistrust, since he really had done a lot of horrible things in the past, and now as he sat there he wondered if there was any chance that he could make this up to his whole family, or if he had ruined everything to the point that it was completely and totally unfixable.

"Look, Shane, even if you don't trust me, take this seriously. Stephanie is in grave danger and I have a feeling we are the only ones that can protect her and Paul as well as the kids at this point, because my past mistakes are about to come back and haunt me full force and it could be Stephanie and her family that are the tragic casualties." Vince said and as he watched his son fully comprehend what they had been talking about, and what he was saying, he knew that his son would do whatever it took to protect his baby sister, because Shane knew that Stephanie deserved happiness and Vince knew he was the one person who stood in the way of that happening.

* * *

Stephanie had a really bad feeling, and she didn't know why. She felt off balance and out of sorts and something told her that something really bad was about to happen, she just didn't know when. As she glanced at her husband and her daughter, she wondered if they would get out of this one unscathed, or if she was going to lose everything that mattered to her most in this world. She had a feeling that the new battle they were about to face, was probably going to have an innocent casualty of war.


	56. Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Stephanie was worried as she watched her daughter playing with her toys on the bed in the master bedroom. Paul had left to go and run to the store and he since Aurora was napping he couldn't bring her along, which was something he was worried about. It seemed that lately he hated leaving their daughter at home with Stephanie because he was worried the stress of dealing with a toddler who just wanted to run around and play and didn't understand that her mommy needed her rest to protect her baby brother or sister that was inside of her mommy. Paul often took on the duty of playing with her until she was all tuckered out and then he let her cuddle with Stephanie in their bed and watch cartoons or some Disney movie that he was super glad he didn't have to sit through.

At the moment Stephanie had convinced her toddler to play quietly on the bed in the master bedroom with some of her toys until her daddy got home, but she wasn't sure how long that was actually going to last considering the attention span of a toddler was extremely small. Aurora would often start playing one thing and want to go and do something else entirely very quickly. Stephanie knew that if she couldn't keep Aurora occupied in the bedroom, then she was going to end up chasing her around the house and that was definitely against doctors orders.

"Dada home?" Aurora asked looking up at her mother and then towards the door, her eyes showing that she really hoped he was because then she knew she could go and play with her toys.

"No princess, your daddy isn't home yet." Stephanie said with a gentle smile. "Want to watch a movie or some cartoons until he gets here?"

Aurora shrugged and then crawled over and cuddled into her mothers side, clearly realizing she was better off just watching the television then attempting to go and play with her other toys at the moment.

* * *

Shane was worried about Stephanie and Paul, and he wasn't sure if there was anything he could actually do about it. It was clear that his little sister was in some sort of trouble, but he wasn't all that sure that it had anything to do with his father and one of his psycho ex lovers who thought they had a chance at the money that came with the McMahon name. Shane was beginning to think there was more to this whole thing than any of them actually thought of, but his father could have played a much bigger role than he is willing to admit to as well. Shane hoped that his father was innocent in this whole thing, because having someone shoot up the house that had your pregnant daughter, your son in law and your toddler granddaughter in it, was something really low and he hoped his father wasn't capable of going to that level of evilness.

"Shane, you need to relax and let the police do their jobs. They are going to find whoever did this." Linda said as she looked at her son, seeing the worry that was etched on his face and knowing how hard this had to be for him.

"She's my baby sister mom, I can't just let this whole thing go. I want to believe dad when he says this time it has nothing to do with him, but how can I do that?" Shane asked as he slowly turned and faced his mother. He sighed deeply, letting the weight of the world rest on his shoulders and the dark puffy circles under his eyes showed just how concerned he was for his little sister and her family. Shane hated the thought that there was nothing he could do to protect his baby sister and his niece, it was a feeling he never ever wanted to feel again and he wanted to get rid of it immediately, and the only way to do that, was to figure out who was trying to hurt her.

* * *

He wasn't sure how long it was going to take to put a new plan into action, but he was getting tired of being on the sidelines, he needed to be in the limelight, he needed to be out there and making sure that everyone knew that Stephanie was going to pay for hurting him. The betrayal that he felt stung deep into his heart and soul, and he knew that there was no rationale for the things he was feeling or even for the things he was doing to try and make himself feel better, but he couldn't just let things go, he couldn't just pretend that he was all right with everything going on at the Levesque home, because he wasn't. Paul was a man who had done something horrible by marrying Stephanie like that, and then getting her pregnant more than once! He wanted to make sure that they both suffered the way he felt like he was suffering every single day, and he wasn't the only one.

The idiots that had screwed up before him might have made his job a little bit harder, but he would succeed because he always did. He had his mind set on revenge and he was going to make sure that he got it, not matter what it took. He hated seeing how lovey dovey Stephanie and Paul had become, constantly kissing and smiling when they could, but he had wiped those smiles off their faces, and he wanted to make sure they were permanently gone.

"It won't be long now." He said as he glared at the picture on the wall. The one that showed the two lovebirds with their daughter and also rubbing Stephanie's stomach, making it clear there was another baby on the way. "I doubt this one will actually be born." He said, really proud of himself as he continued working hard on his latest plan of action.

* * *

Paul smiled as he walked into the bedroom and saw Aurora and Stephanie cuddled together on the bed, watching some cartoon on television. He walked over to see if they were awake or asleep and noticed that Stephanie was out cold but their toddler daughter was awake and seemed happy to see her daddy standing there. Paul smiled wider as he lifted her off the bed and then soothed Stephanie when she bolted upwards, clearly freaked at feeling Aurora being lifted off the bed. He was glad to see how well her instincts were working.

"Go back to sleep, I got her." Paul said as he kissed his wife on the forehead and she nodded.

Paul had noticed lately that she was distant and he knew it was because she was scared and there was absolutely nothing he could say to make her feel any better, because he was just as scared as she was. There was a threat out there to his whole family and there was nothing he could do or say to stop it, and that was the worst feeling in the world. He could only hope the police figured this whole thing out before it was too late, because he didn't think he could stand losing any of his family, it would literally kill him.


	57. Chapter 57

Chapter 57

Stephanie was sitting at the table, looking at her husband and her daughter as they laughed at some joke. This was the first time she had been allowed to sit at the dinner table since the shooting. Normally Stephanie would be lying in bed, eating and watching television. Paul had wanted to try and let them all eat in the bedroom in the beginning but Aurora had been more into throwing the food around and jumping around, not realizing this was dinner time. So they quickly realized it would be better to stick with the normal routine when it came to her, it was just something that was really important. Now she was sitting at the table and she realized how close Aurora and Paul had become without her sitting there at the table. She hated what she was feeling, but she realized she was feeling jealous. She realized she was jealous that her daughter was so close with her father, and wanted to be around him more than her, and it was hurting her and it was also making her feel guilty. She didn't understand why she was feeling like that at all.

"I am going to go lie down." Stephanie pushed back from the table, seeing her husbands eyes turn to her, concerned. Stephanie had been so excited to get to eat at the table, she had planned out the meal, especially with desert and now she wasn't hungry and she just got up and walked out of the dining room.

Stephanie wasn't sure how much time passed, but she heard her someone at the front door and frowned. She wasn't sure how much time passed, but she heard the front door again and then she heard footsteps coming down the hall, then the bedroom door opened and she saw her husband standing there, leaning against the doorjamb.

"Ready?" He asked simply.

"Huh? Ready for what?" Stephanie asked, confused about what he was talking about.

"We are going on a trip." Paul said softly, a look on his face told her that he knew what she was feeling.

"I don't think the doctor would allow…" Stephanie started but was interrupted by her husband.

"I talked to him while you were getting Aurora's coat on." Paul said shrugging his shoulders.

"So where are the three of us going?" Stephanie asked as she sat up and watched her husband get the suitcases out.

"The two of us are going on a special husband and wife pre-baby trip. Aurora is going to stay with her uncle Shane." Paul said as he glanced at her and then turned back to it.

Stephanie wasn't sure what this was about or what she felt about all of that, but she knew that her husband had to have a reason and a plan for all of this, so she figured it would be better just to go along with his plan instead of arguing with him about it, it sounded like something he felt they needed and it was possible that they did.

* * *

Shane was laughing as Aurora continued to sing him a song, obviously the words she happened to be singing were not words he understood, but he still loved hearing her sing the song. He was happy to help out when Paul called and said he was worried about Stephanie and wondered if he would mind watching Aurora for a few days, so that Paul could have Stephanie be just his wife, and not their daughter's mother, even for a little while. With Stephanie being so stressed about doing everything right so that nothing happened to the baby she was carrying, Paul was worried that she wasn't resting or even being her usual self. He hadn't seen her smile since being released from the hospital, and even in the hospital her smiles had been limited. She rarely even smiled for Aurora, and that worried both Paul and Shane.

Shane knew how hard it was for Paul to let Aurora out of his sight, especially with the threat that was going on, but it was necessary. Paul had to help his wife, even if it meant trusting someone else to protect and take care of his daughter. Shane hadn't seen his sister, and he knew it was because she had withdrawn herself again that night, and Paul had a majorly concerned look on his face, which only made Shane aware of just how bad things were in that house since the shooting. Shane knew that this shooter had done a lot of damage, and until he was found, he could still cause a lot more.

* * *

He was pacing back and forth as he heard the news that someone else would be watching Aurora. He didn't like the thought that she might be in the house of someone who would watch her like a hawk, and he knew that Shane would do that. Shane's house happened to be even more secure than Paul and Stephanie's home, which meant there was no getting to that little girl anytime soon, but it didn't mean that there was nothing he could do over the next few days while everyone was out of the house. He could now get into that house and plant things all around, yeah, he liked that a lot better. This might actually work out to his advantage a lot more than he planned for it to. He grinned as he looked over at the picture on the wall and wondered if Stephanie even knew how bad things were about to get for her and her family.

"Soon I will get what I want." He said as he went over and started going through all of the things he had, getting ready to make a plan to put everything he would need in place.

* * *

Stephanie had to admit that her husband had some good idea's from time to time. As they checked into a hotel, a very nice hotel that actually gave everyone their own cabin or small cottage type of home on the same land, she liked the thought. She was glad they wouldn't be staying in a regular hotel where you had to ride an elevator up and then you could hear the people above you, and the ones below you and especially the ones next to you and know everything that went on. As they walked into the cottage she smiled at the homey type of feel, with it's own fully stocked kitchen, she opened the fridge and cupboards and was shocked to see the fresh groceries, all products that she and Paul had in their own home. She arched an eyebrow in his direction after he tipped the bellman that had helped them down the path in his little special made vehicle with their bags and things.

"How did all this get in here?" She asked her husband suspiciously.

"They ask you to type up and send them a shopping list, so I did." Paul admitted with a smug grin. He walked over and wrapped his arms around his wife and then leaned down and kissed her on the lips. "Now it's time for us to be Stephanie and Paul again. Just the two of us, like we were when we first got married for real." He told her with a gentle smile and a burning desire in his eyes.

Stephanie had to admit that idea sounded good, if she could only just try and forget that she was scared out of her mind that something really bad was going to happen, soon.


	58. Chapter 58

Authors Note and THANKS:

I know it has been taking me so long to update and for that I want to apologize. For all of you who still come back and read it, even though I know how annoying it has to be to finally start reading something, get into it and want it to be updated right away. I have been going way downhill with my health and on top of that, I wrote a NOVEL everybody. I need to type it up, since I wrote it by hand, and then I need to do some serious, and I mean serious, editing because as always I am my own worst enemy and I started to think of all the things I should have written and added.

Anyways, thanx to all of you and I am going to try my hardest to update faster... I am organzing my stories a bit better and by doing that I might be able to right more than one chapter in advance that would be waiting and ready for posting!

Thanx again,

Kris!

* * *

Chapter 58

Stephanie opened her eyes and looked over at her husband who was clearly awake and had been for a while. He was watching her with a content look on his face, almost like he had just been watching her sleep. She felt his hand playing in her hair and his other hand lightly rubbing her belly. She knew how happy he was about the fact that they were having another baby, and she was happy about it as well, if only she could be certain that there would be no problems and that they would finally get the chance to be a family after she gave birth. She wanted to watch Aurora be a big sister, and she wanted to watch Paul be super happy and have that goofy grin on his face that he had before, when Aurora was a baby and he was acting like he was the proudest father in the whole world.

Stephanie cuddled closer to him, content to just be lying in his arms, and knowing that at the moment they were in a place where they were safe and there was nothing but love in the room. She lightly kissed his bare chest, remembering the night before and feeling the heated blush come to her face. They had made love for the first time in so long last night, and she actually felt cherished and like a wife should, and she hoped that she had pleased her husband, because a part of her actually felt inadequate, almost like she couldn't make him happy anymore. She often wondered if after they had been through so much, and after she had been injured so many times, she had wondered if she would even be attractive to him or if they could still feel and be passionate in the bedroom with each other.

"You're thinking too hard again." Paul murmured lightly. "Do I need to remind you what I do to distract you when you get like that?" He asked, his voice heating up and she could tell he was hoping he did.

"Do you think I am…" Stephanie trailed off. She didn't want to upset him, she didn't want to ruin the moment or make him think that she didn't trust him.

"Do I think you are what?" Paul asked her, well aware that whatever it was she was holding back was something very important.

"Do you still think I am attractive?" Stephanie said, her voice barely above a whisper and Paul had to strain to her what she was saying.

Paul still his hand in her hair, but didn't stop the movement on her belly. He almost felt like he needed to soothe their child, because he could tell Stephanie was feeling tormented and there was a war waging inside of her, and he didn't want their child to try and go nuts, kicking away at her to try and protest how she was feeling. He didn't understand his wife sometimes, but somewhere inside of him he had known that she was feeling bad about something. He sighed and tried to think of what he could say that she wouldn't think he was lying. "I love you more than anything in this world Stephanie, and I thought you knew this. I thought you knew that you turn me on as no other woman could, I thought you knew that you are the only woman in the world who I would want to share a bed with, and the only woman I would want to share my body with." Paul said gently. "You and I are changing as we get older, and yes we have more scars, physically and emotionally, but it doesn't change how attractive and how sexy you are to me." He knew it was about the scars she now carried, he knew that was one of the big things and so he mentioned them himself, to make sure she knew that he saw them but didn't care about them. Then he got the wicked grin on his face that he had woken up with while she slept, and he pushed her gently to her back and tore the sheet and blanket away from her body before he kissed each scar and then showed her just how amazing she looked to him.

* * *

Shane laughed as he watched his niece run around, she was pretending to be a mommy and she had her doll with her and she had a fake cell phone to her ear as she yelled into it about something. It was clear that she was trying to imitate her mother in some way. Aurora was rocking her baby in her arms at one point and then running around as if she was looking for something and yelling into the phone. It was the cutest thing he had seen, and he was videotaping it for his sister and brother in law. He really was hoping that this trip away was helping his little sister, the way she needed that help. Shane would do anything he could to protect the sister who was so near and dear to his heart, and he knew Paul felt the same way. When Paul was Triple H or Hunter Hearst Helmsley, he still loved his wife and daughter, and to Shane that meant something. No matter whether Paul was himself or his WWE character, he kept his family firmly in his thoughts and mind and he vetoed anything in a script that would hurt his fragile wife, he wouldn't let any of the female wrestlers get a love story with him and he certainly wasn't allowing any kissing or touching at all, he wasn't going to let Stephanie get hurt. In fact, he was demanding a new story line, one where Stephanie returned and they ruled again, and Shane was seriously considering allowing it, thinking it might be good for his little sister.

* * *

He loved sitting there, in their home, even sleeping in their bed. He had looked into Aurora's room and then enjoyed smelling the pillow where Stephanie normally slept. He was trying to decide what he should do next and he knew that he wanted to make sure that he left his mark here, without them knowing about it. He knew better than to leave behind listening devices or camera's, they always had the house swept and checked and they were always very careful, but it didn't matter to him, because he knew who he was and he knew what he had to do. The Levesque family was going to fall apart, and poor little Stephanie was going to start believing the worst of her sweet little husband, she was going to believe he didn't love her and that he didn't want her anymore, and then Paul was going to believe Stephanie couldn't stand the sight of him, Paul was going to think she had post partum depression and want to keep the kids far away from Stephanie, oh he couldn't wait till his plans were put into gear, and soon he was going to make his mark in a way no other had been able to.

"Soon, Stephanie, soon you're sweet little family will shatter into pieces, and this time, there will be no way to recover, there will be no fixing the damage I plan to do." He grinned as he looked at the family photo on the wall, tempted to break the glass and cut the picture up but knowing that there would be time for that, after his plan had succeeded.


End file.
